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- "Mannen elsker jenta si."
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What is the most likely connotation of "jenta si" in this sentence? Is this a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship? A father/daughter relationship? I'm just thinking that "his girl" can have multiple meanings in English...
So what's the difference between "Mannen elsker jenta si" and "Mannen elsker jenta hans"?
Why is it "jenta si" but it "kvinnen sin"
How do you differentiate between si, sin, sitt. Are not both the woman and girl feminine?
Also why was it "lunsjen sin"?
Im trying to understand. Maybe thia will be picked up the more I practice and learn the language, but right now it is difficult to understand.
'en' is for masculine, yes, but it is also used for feminine words, it's just anomaly. You have the choice of using the feminine particle ''ei" or ''en''. If you look at the Tips and Notes under the 1st and 2nd Basics module it explains this.
Masculine: en mann (a man), mannen (the man) Feminine: ei or en kvinne (a woman), kvinna or kvinnen (the woman)
From 1st Basics: 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.
"If you look at the Tips and Notes under the 1st and 2nd Basics module it explains this."
This simple sentence just changed my world. I was having such a tough time with figuring out the differences and when to use certain (versions) of words. it never crossed my mind that Tips would have the grammatical instruction.
although doing things the hard way and without reading Tips did teach me how to break down the sentences on my own and find the rule of thumb for most. However, now I can actually understand WHY its a rule of thumb XD
499
Feminine, neuter, masculine.
Han elsker kona si. (fem.)
Han elsker barnet sitt. (neut.)
Han elsker sønnen sin. (masc.)
One further:
Han elsker hundene sine (plural).
N.B.: I'm not a native speaker.