42 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'.
Deliciae, your explanations are so helpful! Helps me not hang my head in shame over struggling a bit with this. Takk :)
Bare hyggelig! It's in challenging ourselves that we learn and grow; that's the good kind of struggle, and nothing to be ashamed of.
Hello, I'm sorry but what is the difference between "jenten" and "jenta". I am struggling with that. I thought that "the girl" was "jenten", just like "the boy" is "gutten". Apparently I'm wrong :(
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.
So the word "not" or "ikke" will come after the word have? So it would literally be if you were to translate it to English "the girl has not an apple"?
It seems so. The same way for other verbs. For example "Jeg er ikke en kvinne" would be translated roughly as "I am not a woman"; or "Jeg forstaar ikke Norsk" would be "I understand not Norwegian" -- even though, in this last case, the English sentence should be "I don't understand Norwegian".
Try replacing 'not' with 'no' and it makes sense again in English, although it's not a pretty version of the sentence.
Ikke can be 'not' or 'no' as in:
'I understand no Norwegian' -> it's still probably grammatically bot 100%ly correct, but it makes more sense as ro why it's structured this way.
There is no difference in meaning. You can choose either as a translation for "the girl." See the tips and notes section for more info.
Ei jente = Jenta / En jente = Jenten.. its a dialekt thing. Bergen for example doesnt use Ei but here in Stavanger we do.
In some places in Norway, there are three genders. In the dialect taught here, there are two, as masculine and feminine merged recently into common gender. Jente is feminine, and takes ei instead of en when it is in the three-gender dialect. The feminine plural in three-gender dialect is -a.
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.
What is the difference between the definitions and the pronounciation between jenta and jente?
If you translate what it exactly says word by word, it reminds me of older english.
Does anyone else find it's confusing that Jente Jenta and Jenter all sound virtually identical
Keep listening to Norwegian, and you'll learn to tell them apart. New sounds take some time getting used to, that's all. :)
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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?
Is saying "En jente har ikke et eple" akin to saying "Jenta har ikke et eple"? Or is there a difference, grammatically?
Your first example means "A girl does not have an apple". The definite form is made by adding a suffix, like '-a' in the case of feminine nouns :)
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.
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It translates to "the girl" but there isn't a word to denote "the", is this proper or should there be a word to denote "the"? Thanks.
Norwegian uses a definite suffix rather than a free-standing definite article, so it's the ending -a that translates to "the" here.
It doesnt sound right in english grammer is it correct or is it just me :P
Alguien puede informarme si puedo hacer mi curso de noruego pero en español es q todo me sale en ingles
el o cursoueguesel curso de noruego se puede hacer sólo en inglés. Lo siento mucho.
I wrote: " The girl does not has an apple" and it was wrong! The right answer(as the app showed) has "have" in it (in stead of the "has" i have used)!!! The girl = she so i think to use "has" is right, isn't it?!!!
I think you may need to check in with your English course on this one. :( The girl HAS an apple, but: she DOES not HAVE an apple. The app's answer is correct.
Thank you very much for the info.. It is long time i didn't use my English, and while learning Norwegian, i miss a part of my English abilities
If we use "jenta" here, why didn't we use "ei jente" instead of "en jente" before? Can you choose to use the feminine form with the definite article but the masculine in the indefinite?
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.
Please elaborate on your confusion in order for us to help you.
