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- Topic: Norwegian (Bokmål) >
- "Hva er det?"
80 Comments
I like this approach. Questions like this should be one of the first things people learn in any language.
Haha thanks, I like to try out each language as it comes out but mostly focus on a few at a time.
I do the same. I'll focus on, say, French and Spanish for one day, and then Irish and Norwegian for another, and Esperanto and Polish for yet one more. I like mixing the hard and easy languages ;)
I'm having trouble hearing the det. It seems to cut out. But anyway, tusen tack!
Looks like the 't' is silent, as is the 'h' in words beginning 'hv'. I'm new to Norwegian; using this basic stuff as a bit of a taster really. Must say I prefer my languages to be phonetic, especially in pronouncing consonants. German fits the bill but then the grammar is quite challenging. Still, can't have it all ways, I suppose.
So i've always thought that dutch would look simmilar to norweigian. how wrong i was. But Dutch also beeing a Germanic language, i can see some similarities and i can see some words that look and mean the same. I find it fascinating and i can't wait to speak this language. Greetings from the Netherlands
I thought that Afrikaans, coming from Dutch, would look like Norwegian but nope :)
I think it is something between "o" and "a" on "hvA". But definitely iis most like "a" than "o"
because the letter "r" from "er" its followed by letter "d" from "det". When "R" is followed by D,T,N,L,S it "ignore" the consonant, so the "det" become "et" in pronnounce. Another fact is that the "t" from "et" is silent, so the whole word "det" become a simply "eh" in pronnounce. "Er" + "eh" = "er'eh"
You must remember that the d does not become silent when you have r + d. Rather, the d is «colored» by the r, and both are replaced by a voiced retroflex stop. Similar cases are r+s, r+t and r+l. The sound example in this case is (for some reason) actually using a retroflex flap, which is used only in certain dialects in certain cases of r+d.
do you know a video that explain about consonants retroflex and all these things?
I'm sorry, I have never looked for videos explaining Norwegian pronunciation. If you're looking for videos, it might help to know that Swedish uses a retroflex T, D and S after R, just like Norwegian. Hindi also has retroflex sounds, and probably many others, too.
This video seems to be relevant (the person in it is saying the words with the Oslo-dialect). By the way, keep in mind that you will be understood completely fine without using retroflexes (and pronounce the R separately instead). We are used to hearing people with foreign accents. :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRegrgHDLq4
no no. I mean if you know about these kind of things in learning a new language. I dont know what is "retroflex", where can I find it?
For now, I think I'll remember this using the (almost) English word DENTALS. Thanks FanddenRidder.
Actually it's ɖ (Voiced retroflex stop). R + t/d/n/s/l create retroflex consonants.
Bbar where you can see languages that he learnt, which SupEvan's quite impressive :)
SupEvan is right (for almost all rolling R-dialects). But as a funfact: Some Norwegians actually use the ɾ in the words det, du, deg, de, dem after a vowel or an r. So «Hva er det» really could be pronounced /vɑː'æːɾə/. You should not really think too much about this unless you are a pronunciation geek, though.
Schva is frequently used in the Russian and the English languages, though. I say it as a Russian native speaker who is learning English.
Can someone please help me with the pronunciation of the letter 'R'? Is it supposed to be rolled or what? Please keep your reply simple because I'm only a beginner to language learning (As you can probably see in my language bar haha).
The very simple answer is: yes, it is usually supposed to be rolled, and any Norwegian would understand you if you roll the «r» every time! ;)
The less simple answer is that it is often not rolled, for instance when it is in front of a «d» or «t», in which case the two sounds «melt» together and make a new sound, like here (although I would say that the Duolingo voice is a bit off).
To pronounce the «R» distinctly (as an «alveolar trill» or «alveolar flap») instead of having it «melt in» with another letter (and as opposed to «guttural r», wich is also common in Norway).
Can someone clarify the pronunciation of Hva? When I hover over the individual word, it sounds like vah but when I play the sentence, it sounds like voh.
a short "vah" is how I was taught to say it! You may be hearing "voh" because of the following "er", lazy pronunciation changes to "vaherdeh"
It would be a good translation of meaning for both of them. The literal translation is "thousand thanks".
I can pronunce it exactly the same way because that "R" sound is also present in my mother tongue Sindhi
The meaning of 'this' and 'it' are slightly different both in English and in the Scandinavian languages. 'What is this' would be 'Hva er dette'.
So just to clarify, one rolls the "r" in "er" when the word comes before a vowel, and leaves it hard before a consonant?
I am not quite sure what you mean by «hard», but the R assimilates with the following consonant if it is a T, D, N, L or S. The resulting consonant is a retroflex. In front of most other consonants, it has a tendency to be silent. (This does not apply for all dialects)
If "it" is det, then how do you translate "That"? In case we have it in the same sentence: what is that?
«that» is translated to «det» or «den», depending on the gender of the thing referenced. And although «What is that?» and «What is it?» can both be expressed as «Hva er det?», the former would (usually) be pronounced with a stressed «det», whereas the latter would not.
because of the r in er coming right before the d in det, apparently the two sounds are elided together in a retroflex tap. underside of the tip of your tongue taps the ridge behind your teeth.
Why its so different the det in a sentence and when i heard just "det"? Help meee I cannnn't
Det is pronounced déa, according to older lessons. Here however, it was more like: Va ar'a, instead of Va ar déa. Why?
what is that hva er det being like hav er'a?? but in the same time det spelling like détt ?
What happened with "det" ? It sounds as if "what is it" just turned to "What". "det" was not pronounced at all.
Guys!! I find it difficult to understand the difference in pronounciation between "har" and "er". Help!
so in one question in norwegian it says hva er det and the answer is what is it but it can also mean what is that
