"It is not often I speak English."

Translation: Det er ikke ofte jeg snakker engelsk.

[ErikTangvik]

One day I hope this will be true.

[simao11]

"Det er ikke ofte at snakker jeg engelsk." is not a correct answer. Why is that so? Is it because the word "that" is not in the original sentence? Or did I miss something?

[Jersebas]

It could be because the reason you provided (as "that" was not in the English sentence either), but if that's not the reason then it's probably because of your word order. The second part of the sentence is its own subclause in which the verb should go second I think (V2-rule): "...(at) jeg snakker engelsk". To be sure I'll ask a mod to confirm ;)

[simao11]

Thank you! :)

[Rosemina19]

Why is ikke before ofte? Where everywhere ikke is after the negative word

[Kyllingene]

Ikke comes after the verb, or in some cases, like 'Vil ikke ha', in the middle of two verbs acting in unison. It's somewhat like 'Have not read' in English.

[TheAmazingGoat]

Would "jeg snakker ikke ofte engelsk" work here?

[Kyllingene]

I do believe that would translate as 'I do not speak English often', or 'I do not often speak English'.

[Michael17867]

If someone in Norway were to say this, is that how they'd say it? The english pronunciation is quite formal.

[CamilaEsth16]

In what circunstances can I use this sentence

[tbarasmussen]

Why isn't "tale engelsk" accepted? As a Dane almost fluent in Norwegian, I would claim this is a mistake, but am I wrong?

[Jersebas]

Shouldn't that be "taler" then?

[tbarasmussen]

Of course, it should, and I also wrote that. In my example, I just turned the expression into infinitive form, because this is more of a general question.

[Jersebas]

Ok, just making sure that wasn't the reason for the rejection ;)

[Andy642820]

Do Norwegians talk like this?