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- "Jenta har ikke et eple."
48 Comments
It sounds clear to me, but if you're not used to distinguishing between the two sounds in your native language then it's perfectly normal to struggle with it initially. You'll get the hang of it! :)
One thing that can be of help with listening exercises, is asking yourself whether what you think you're hearing is actually grammatically correct. 'jente' on it's own would not make sense grammatically in this sentence, it would have to be either 'jenten', 'jenta', 'en jente' or 'ei jente'.
By using jenten, you're opting in for the masculine gender (en jente) and by using jenta, you're opting in for the feminine version (ei jente). Both are correct and represent definite singular.
- masculine pair (en jente, jenten)
- feminine pair (ei jente, jenta)
In Norwegian, feminine nouns can be treated as if they were of masculine gender. As others have stated, it depends on the dialect and your location within Norway.
249
In Bokmål you can, it is correct. All feminine nouns can use as masculine.
From https://www.duolingo.com/skill/nb/Basics/tips-and-notes
All feminine gendered nouns can be classified as masculine gender as well. In theory, one could treat all feminine nouns as masculine ones, but most Norwegians still use the feminine form, especially for certain words. The choice really is up to you! Both en kvinne and ei kvinne are grammatically correct, and the tendency to use the feminine gender depends on geography and dialect. We have decided to teach it where it is most natural to use it, with words such as jente meaning girl, for example.
The last sentence carries a mistake. It should be rewritten as "The feminine singular in three-gender dialect is -a" or "The neuter plural in three-gender dialect is -a". Both pertain to the definite article.
24
Is the break between the final e of "ikke" and initial e of "et eple" a normal thing? Do the words blend together in conversation?
480
When translating it is best practice to keep as exact as possible. 'She' in place of "the girl" is how pronouns work and has similar meaning but if you say she the target may know for example if you mean the girl, the woman, the mother, etc.
You learn both patterns for feminine nouns, that is how we introduce you to the option of treating feminine nouns as masculine.
It's not uncommon to use a mixed declension with "en jente" and "jenta", though I wouldn't risk it on a Norwegian exam. Note that it cannot be done the other way around ("ei jente"+"jenten").
It's Jenta, not En jente. Therefore, correct translation is "The girl doesn't have an apple".
En jente har ikke et eple would translate to A girl doesn't have an apple.
869
The fact that the definite article is added at the end of the word and that it is "-a" for feminine words is oddly similar to my language, what a weird coincidence! :)