"Jeg legger kortene på bordet."

Translation: I am putting the cards on the table.

[brjaga]

Does this have the same idiomatic sense as in English?

[HelenCarlsson]

Yes.

[lindsaype]

'å legge alle kortene på bordet' er også et ganske vanlig uttrykk på norsk, ikke sant?

[HelenCarlsson]

I exists in English too, I guess? It does in Swedish ("att lägga alla korten på bordet"):

[Andershava]

Sant.

[TheRoofRabbit]

You've got to know when to hold 'em/
Know when to fold 'em/
Know when to walk away/
Know when to run/
You don't count your money/
When you're sittin' at the table/
There'll be time enough for countin'/
When the dealin''s done.

[Jan_D_13]

Can a "kort" also be a map? In german (my native language) the word "Karte" can mean a credit card (Kreditkarte) or a map (Land- or Straßenkarte).

[Alexei121]

No, "a map" in Norwegian is "et kart".

[Jan_D_13]

Thanks!

[voxsolaus]

Wouldn't it be min kortene if possessive?

[ajosund]

I have the same questiom as voxsolaus - can someone explain how to understand the possesive my here?

[australsk]

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe the possessive in the above sentence would be. "Jeg legger kortene mine på bordet". The possessive 'mine' is used because more than one card is being put on the table. Remember the possessive options are: min, mitt, mine.
Note the original sentence is more general and not indicating possession. In terms of possession it is ambiguous; it is uncertain to whom the cards belong. If to the speaker then 'mine' could be used; if they belong to the speaker and others then 'våre'; if the cards belong to a person not present then 'sine' could be used.
Hope this makes sense.

[ajosund]

Great explanation

[Yayatona]

So, what you are saying is that, while not a close translation, the English "I'm laying my cards on the table" would be an acceptable translation of this sentence, depending upon context, yes?

[australsk]

I do not think that 'I'm laying my cards on the table' would be an acceptable translation of the given sentence 'Jeg legger kortene på bordet' because the translation is more specific as it includes a reference to the possessor of the cards. However, it might be an acceptable translation of 'Jeg legger kortene mine på bordet', which is the sentence I suggested in trying to answer the questions of voxsolaus and ajosund.

[brjaga]

A word-for-word translation wouldn't have "my" in the English. However, the associated idiom occurs much more frequently in English with a possessive than without, so I'd say that "lay my cards on the table" should be an acceptable translation.

For those interested: http://bit.ly/2cbgmln (link to a Google Ngram search; had to replace it with a shortened URL b/c Duolingo's comment system wasn't handling ampersands in query string correctly)

[Yayatona]

Thanks! I've done enough translation/interpretation in the past to know that the words in one language do not always (dare I say "often"?) match the words in the second. Matching the words is much less important than matching the ideas!

[Xeins1]

Mi is also an option :)

[CJ.Dennis]

I heard "Jeg legger koppene på bordet", which to me sounds more common!