Grammar notes
Adverbs and prepositions
© NTNU
Welcome back to our “Grammar notes” step.
New course, new grammar…
But first, we start by repeating and expanding on something we already mentioned in Course 1
ADVERBS
Movement/stationary
Some adverbs have two forms, one indicating movement, the other for stationary situations:
| Movement | Stationary |
| Han går inn. | in | Han er inne. | in/inside |
| Han går ut. | out | Han er ute. | out/outside |
| Han går opp i andre etasje. | up | Han er oppe. | up/upstairs |
| Han går ned i første etasje. | down | Han er nede. | down/downstairs |
| Han går hjem. | He goes home | Han er hjemme | He’s at home |
Note that there are also two forms for here and there.
| Movement | Stationary |
| Han kommer hit. | here | Han er her. | here |
| Han går dit. | there | Han er der. | there |
UT, UTE, UTENFOR
Now, a small degression…
As we just learnt, UT (out) is an adverb and is used for movement. It tells you that someone is going out of somewhere.
| «Kom deg ut!» sier Dina. | «Get out!» Dina says. |
| Alex går ut av Dinas rom. | Alex goes out of Dina’s room. |
UTE (out, outside) on the other hand is used for stationary situations. It is very often used in the meaning «outdoors».
| Katten sitter ute på trappa. | The cat is sitting outside/outdoors on the staircase. |
| De spiser ute på terrassen. | They are eating out/outside on the terrace. |
| Alex liker å være ute. | Alex likes being outdoors. |
We cannot use UT together with a noun. If we want to say that someone or something is outside somewhere, we must use UTENFOR (outside):
| Utenfor huset sitter en katt. | Outside the house, there is a cat. |
| Ben kjører til et kjøpesenter utenfor sentrum. | Ben is driving to a shopping center outside the town center. |
Sometimes we drop the noun after UTENFOR if there is no doubt what noun there should be:
| Cecilie og Alex går ut av butikken. Utenfor ser de Anne Olsen. | Cecilie and Alex go out of the shop. Outside (the shop) they see Anne Olsen. |
| Cecilie sitter og ser ut av vinduet. Hun ser naboen utenfor. | Cecilie is looking out the window. She sees the neighbour outside (her window / her house). |
PREPOSITIONS
Place prepositions
More about prepositions in connection with place.
Bak (behind), foran (in front of), i (in), på (on), over (over), under (under) and ved siden av (next to) are typical prepositions in connection with place.
In the following we will have a closer look at the difference between I and PÅ, and in addition explain the use of two other prepositions; TIL (to) and HOS (at).
I
I is used when something is placed inside something else, within borders or walls:
| Klærne ligger i skapet. | The clothes are in the closet. |
| Sofaen er i stua. | The sofa is in the living room. |
I is also used together with
Continents: i Europa, i Asia
Countries and states: i Norge, i Kina, i Texas
Cities: i Trondheim, i Oslo, i Beijing
Street names/addresses: i Karl Johans gate, i Drammensveien 1
På
På is often used to indicate that something is on top of something else:
| Boka ligger på bordet. | The book is on the table. |
På is also used in the following connections:
| på skolen | at school |
| på kino, teater | at the cinema, theatre |
| på restaurant, kafé | in/at a restaurant, café |
| på biblioteket | at the library |
| på jobb/arbeid | at work |
| på (ved) universitetet | at the university |
NB: In the following connections I is also used:
| på/i butikken | in/at the shop |
| på/i kjøkkenet, stua | in the kitchen, living room |
| på/i badet, soverommet | in the bathroom, bedroom |
På is generally used together with
Islands: på Grønland (But when the island also is a state we use I: i Irland. Sometimes we can use both: på/i Sri Lanka.)
Many inland cities in Norway: på Røros, på Lillehammer
Many parts of a city: på Tyholt, på Singsaker, på Frogner
It is often difficult to explain the use of I and PÅ together with Norwegian names of places. The topography or even the name itself often decides the preposition, but there are lots of exceptions and also dialect differences. When in doubt, ask the locals!
TIL
Til is the most frequent preposition denoting movement towards a place:
| Ben går til kantina. | Ben goes to the canteen. |
| Skal du dra til Fjordvik i dag? | Are you going to Fjordvik today? |
Notice that I or PÅ are also generally used to express movement towards or into many rooms and institutions:
| Dina går på badet. | Dina goes to the bathroom. |
| Cecilie går i operaen. | Cecilie goes to the opera. |
| Skal vi gå på kafé? | Shall we go to a café? |
HOS
Hos is used in front of persons in the meaning «at his/her place»:
| De tar en kaffe hos Cecilie. | They have a coffee at Cecilie’s. |
| Så fint det er hos deg, Dina! | It is so nice at your place/in your room, Dina! |
We also use hos when we talk about some occupational groups:
| Jeg er hos legen. | I am at the doctor’s. |
| Jeg sitter hos frisøren | I’m at the hairdresser’s |
NB: When involving movement, we use til:
| Anne går på besøk til Cecilie. | Anne goes for a visit at Cecilie’s. |
| Jeg må dra til legen. | I have to go to the doctor. |
If you want to learn more about Prepositions you can take a look at the Pdf in the “Downloads” section. Here you’ll find several examples and useful expressions to learn.
Enjoy!
© NTNU
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