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- Topic: Norwegian (Bokmål) >
- "Bortenfor butikken"
30 Comments
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?
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.
Okay thanks. So it does imply something being lower than something else. I see the difference now. Thanks again.
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").
686
Why is there an r in bortenfor? Is it in any way pronounced and if not how do i remember it's there?
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.
- 105
I agree, the audio sounds like it says "butenfor" to me. I don't know if the audio clip is just bad, or if it's actually pronounced that way...
This link has been in these discussions for a long time. Extremely useful: https://www.skapago.eu/nils/pronunciation-retroflex/
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.
"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.
What is the differenz between "bak" and "bortenfor"?
I know that in english "bak" means "behind" and "bortenfor" means "past".
But i'm from germany and both of them means "hinter" to me in german.
So when do i have to use "bak" and when "bortenfor"?
- 263
Bak/behind = at the back of something, e.g. Hagen ligger bak huset/the garden is behind the house. This is always true, as the position of the garden is relative to the house, and it doesn't matter where the speaker is standing.
Bortenfor/past/beyond = the other side of something, e.g. Huset ligger bortenfor skogen/the house is beyond the forest. This is not always true, as the position of the house is relative to the position of the speaker and the forest. If the speaker is in a different location, then it could be that "skogen liggen bortenfor huset/the forest is beyond the house".
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.
- 263
Hun bor under butikken = she lives under the shop, i.e her apartment is in the same building.
Hun bor nedenfor butikken = she lives below/down past the shop, i.e. her apartment is in a different building from the shop, and that building is at a lower elevation/downhill from said shop.
I think a little leighway should be given for typo's given that all I did was accidentally spell 'butikken' with two Ts and one K, only to be told I'd used the wrong word.
Shouldn't 'past the store' be accepted as a correct translation? I typed that and it was marked incorrect. I thought bortenfor meant both past and beyond.
- 122
I put, "Beyond the boutique". It said that's wrong. A boutique is a store and that is where the word Butikken comes from. I lost a ❤️ for a correct answer!
