- Forum >
- Topic: Norwegian (Bokmål) >
- "Du slipper å gjøre det."
21 Comments
So, I have seen that different languages have different meanings for when you negate the word for "must". In the case of English and Norwegian, "must not" and "må ikke" both mean "obligated to NOT do something". Whereas in German, "Ich muss nicht" means more like "I don't need to/don't have to".
I don't see this as often -- a positively phrased verb that takes the place of "don't have to" / "muss nicht". Is 'slipper å' the most common way to express that in Norwegian?
du slipper a gjoere det is common to say to someone when they had to do something but not anymore. or if it is something they tougth they had to do but dont need to. But not when they are not allowed to do it. Saying 'du ma ikke gjoere det' can mean the same in the right setting. Like in 'du kan, men du ma ikke' (you can, but you must not/don't need to ) but generally you are right . You can also say 'du trenger ikke a gjore det' (you don't need to do it).
i am confused about what "slipper" actually means..... and this sentence doesn't seem to help me with context on how to use it.
But there's also "å slippe hunden": to let the dog out. I guess you could compare it to the English "to slip". In "å slippe å gjøre", you can let it slip (let it slide), and in "å slippe hunden", you let the dog slip. ;)
'å slippe' can have several meanings, I only intended to describe it's meaning in this sentence.
'å slippe' = 'to drop'
'å slippe ut' = 'to release'
'å gi slipp på' = 'to let go of'
1076
So if å slippe means 'to not have to do', isn't following it with a gjøre det a bit redundant? Or is it a modal verb meaning 'to not have to/not be required to' which can be followed by other verbs besides å gjøre?
I'm also wondering if one can simply say 'Du slipper' without a second verb as a way of saying, 'You got out of it' (i.e., you got out of having to do it). I assume it would be colloquial, if you can.
You say "not have to do" but in the example above is also "not need to do" right. In my opinion that's two very different meanings. I would use trenger for "to need", but i don't know yet what the connotation of "slippe" is.
"[deactivated user]" has a suggestion:
It can help to compare to English "(to be) spared (from something)"
in English "you do not have to" and "you need not" is nearly synonymous
very funny. I'm talking about today's English, like e.g. in these discussions:
https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/do-not-have-to-and-need-not.2343513/ http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/grammar/must.htm
