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What is the difference in use between nedenfor and bortenfor? They both seem to mean past something. Is nedenfor used if something is down a hill and past?
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The distinction is a bit fuzzy. You can use "nedenfor" when something is physically lower than what you are comparing it to, when something is farther to the south, or when something is closer to the docks, etc.
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Okay thanks. So it does imply something being lower than something else. I see the difference now. Thanks again.
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Can you please tell me the difference between nedenfor and bortenfor? Is nedenfor below and bortenfor past/beyond?
To elaborate on what 25or624 said, "nedenfor" can sometimes be used to describe something that is directly below you (on the floor below the one you're currently at, for instance).
However, it's also used to express that something is down past something else. If I say that my house is "nedenfor butikken", that means that it's past the store, but there's a drop in elevation from the store to my house. It's a more specific variant of "bortenfor", and its counterpart is "ovenfor" (not "overfor").
"Utenfor butikken" translating to English as "beyond the store" sounds grammatically odd to me. I wrote "away from the store" and got it wrong, but the official translation does not sound correct to me at all.
But "der borte"... it doesn't mean past the landmark, it just means toward the landmark, correct?
"Der borte" refers to wherever you're pointing to or just mentioned. That can of course be past something else. It does not imply movement.
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I checked some well known german to norwegian dictionaries like "Ponds" and "Langenscheidt" but both don't even know the word "bortenfor". Is "bortenfor" such a strange word in norwegian?
No, it's a common word, and not one you would want to be without.
You could double-check your dictionaries for the spelling variant "bortafor", but in writing it's the less common of the two.
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Why is there an r in bortenfor? Is it in any way pronounced and if not how do i remember it's there?
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Not all letters in all languages are pronounced audibly. See for example English, which is notorious for this. I do hear a whiff of "r", hear, though it is very weak.
I am not sure, but without the "r", it might be that the "o" (pronounced more as "u" to my ear") would be pronounced as a long vowel.
