"Hvem?"

Translation: Who?

[rayslegend]

hello and welcome to norwegian! first post!

[Neptunium]

Ah, now I see where the "h" in "who" comes from.

[FanddenRidder]

you mean the language tree? (english came from german branch)

[jacob_sangi]

The language of my ancestors! I'm so excited!

[SleipnirGirl]

Yours as well? I have family that lives in Norway and Germany; It will be nice to finally be able to understand what they're saying.

[DesertWolfe]

Mine too!!! My father's ancestors lived in Trondheim...I still have a few cousins there. They speak very good English, but I'll be able soon to surprise them with Norwegian!!!! :-D

[SethMing2]

Same

[pine_forest94]

Very lucky! My ancestors are German

[Peachierai]

Language of my ancestors too

[sword_master71]

Doctor Hvem

[NattKullav1]

*Doktor hvem

(Doktor kven på nynorsk)

[MarcoisGlucklich]

Huhuuuu, i was waiting a lot for this!!! :D :D :D

[aelish]

Thank you for everyone working on this! I am very excited to get started (but also certain my brain will get it all mixed up with Swedish!)

[FanddenRidder]

which one is harder to learn?

[Cours_toujours]

My first Norwegian word! Woohoo!

[ClaudiaJFA]

It sounds like the spanish word: ¿Quién?

[FanddenRidder]

or like the portuguese one "quem?"

[YackubHassan]

just typing how exited i am about this language

[ElliottB1]

Doctor who?

[Tetraoxid]

Doctor Hvem?

[NattKullav1]

*Doktor hvem

[RussJenkins]

I hear two different audios for this and one is not at all clear

[Lixulukus]

Is it also "whom" or "which" ?

[Ullebad]

No. We do not have a direct equivalent of "whom", but you'll learn other ways to express it. "Which" is "Hvilken" or "Hvilket" depending on the gender of the noun. :)

[paulogsampaio]

Thanks

[SupEvan]

"Hvem" is both who and whom, yes. "Which" can be either hvilken, hvilket or hvilke :)

[a-muktar]

After watching Ylvis' pranks, I all of a sudden have an urge to learn Norwegian haha. By the way, the very first word on Norwegian Duolingo course is "Who?" Convenient!

[miniummanee]

So I am not the only one who learns norsk because Ylvis. Good to know :D

[a-muktar]

Yeah I love them! Jeg elske ylvis :P

[elif_melissa]

Vi elsker Ylvis ❤ And this is why i came here too ^^

[shrikrishna1]

Do you say Hvem as Them?

[Ullebad]

No, it's not a "th" sound in "hvem". It's just a sharp "v" sound, like in the word "venom" :)

[kristo004]

As in rhyming with it? Yes. The "Hv" is pronounced as a V though.

[tu.8zPhLD72zzoZN]

I love that the owl peeked out for this one. Isn't that what an owl is famous for asking? Who? "Hvem?"

[NurseOrange]

Cool. That is actually a good way to remember it.

[ElenaChiVargas]

Wow. Never thought of it that way!

[SpiralStat]

Is it just pronounced vem? Or is h a part of it?

[IAmCalumBlack]

When a word starts with hv, the h is not pronounced. So yes, hvem is just pronounced as vem.

[CamilleC1216]

I wanna learn how to speak it because of part of my family

[NattKullav1]

Is it "Kven" in Nynorsk?

[kristo004]

Yes, "kven" is Hvem/Who in Nynorsk

[Diogo.Alvarez]

So when I make the sound of "hvem" I don't even think of making an "h" sound? I mean, I know I'm not supposed to pronounce the "h", but is it as silent as the "k" in "knight", or should I position my tongue as if I was going to pronounce it (like we do with the "g" sound in "wrong", for example?)

And could anyone please recommend a good online Norwegian dictionary? Thank you!

[MasterOfMagikarp]

Silent as the k in knight.
A good dictionary when you get better at norwegian and want to read about specific words.
http://www.nob-ordbok.uio.no/perl/ordbok.cgi?OPP=&bokmaal=+&ordbok=bokmaal
As a English-Norwegian/Norwegian-English i don't know of great dictionaries but i think most of those out there are ok.

[Diogo.Alvarez]

Thank you, MasterOfMagikarp! It was very helpful!

[EliseCamar]

Why doesnt the H get pronounced ????????

[IAmCalumBlack]

At the beginning of the word, "hv" is just pronounced "v," so "hvem" is just pronounced "vem."

[FanddenRidder]

so why the "h" exists before "v"?
I see no reason

[IAmCalumBlack]

Good point. Keep in mind that not everyone in Norway speaks the same dialect of Norwegian. Bokmål is a written language, not a spoken one (Bokmål literally means "Book Tongue"). The spelling is close to the pronunciation of the Standard Østnorsk dialect, but Bokmål was designed to be a common written language for speakers of different Norwegian dialects.

In some regions, the 'h' in 'hvem' is pronounced, and in others it is even pronounced as a "kv-" sound or a "w-" sound. So to answer your question the 'h' probably exists to better model the pronunciations of non-standard dialects.

[FanddenRidder]

wow your commentary is so rich!
Take my Lingot

[UnaAllen]

Ha ha ha ha

[UnaAllen]

Agree

[JennaFi1]

I love norwegian!! :-) Im from Finland :)

[_mikorin]

Almost like Portuguese (quem) :D

[sword_master71]

Doctor hvem

[fukien]

haha good one

[Kimlengthong]

How to pronun it? Could anyone tell me? I hear them. Am I right?

[FanddenRidder]

https://pt.forvo.com/search/hvem?/

[ErdalErdoa48]

Øistein Kristiansen is my favourite Norweigan artist.

[WarioWareRocks]

What helps me remember this is because it sounds really similar to 'whom'