Learning one of the Scandinavian Languages

King John, I found this list. Maybe it'll be useful for you as well. It's in German though.

http://www.heinzelnisse.info/wiki/StarkeUndSchwacheVerben

Could someone give me a few basic Norwegian insults please?
I don't want too harsh ones (I don't object though), but stuff like 'Damn!', 'moron', 'fool' and those that I can use if need be.

Suren do you have the Teaching Yourself Norwegian book? That is a pretty easy introduction to Norwegian. You can use this thread as a helpful guide to aid in getting through learning Norwegian. In terms of learning it better that all depends of the time you put in to learning. I go through it fairly quickly because languages just click for me and I have a few languages to related it to. Often it is best to learn a language slowly as you normally retain the information much better. Don't worry about catching up worry about making sure you understand the grammar. Just a note on why I have not put in many vocabulary words. I believe that the most important thing about learning a language is learning the grammar, which is often much more difficult than learning vocabulary. Everybody learns at their own pace, again the important part is to make sure you get the grammar points. If I were you and I didn't already have the Danbolt Teach Yourself book I would get it asap; as it will help with vocabulary acquisition and explain points that I left out because I was lazy or thought the points to be minor. We all look forward to seeing your posts here. Don't be discouraged. If you are going along and learning with us and happen on something that you don't understand or isn't quite clear, please ask. There are a few people who frequent this thread who happen to be from Scandinavian countries and I'm sure would be more than willing to give you an answer.

Ebbelockert, do you have any suggestions regarding good Norwegian fiction authors that we could possibly read after we get a firm grasp of Norwegian grammar? I ask because in my personal experience I have found that I am able to learn a language much better by actually reading and applying the grammar as opposed to just talking about it theoretically. In order for me to learn I need to experience.

Here is a summary of what is going on in Danbolt Chapter 9.

Chapter 9
Grammar Point 1
Adjectives: Colors/Patterns
En                                Et                                   Definite Singular + Indefinite and Definite Plural
blå                             blått                                  blå               blue
brun                          brunt                                brune          brown
grønn                        grønt                                grønne        green
grå                             grått                                 grå               grey
gul                             gult                                   gule             yellow
hvit                            hvitt                                  hvite            white
oransje                     oransje                             oransje       orange
rød                            rødt                                   røde            red
svart                          svart                                 svarte          black
turkis                        turkis                                turkise        turquoise
lyseblå                      lyseblått                           lyseblå        light blue
mørkerød                 mørkerødt                      mørkerøde dark red
fæl                             fælt                                   fæle             awful/gruesome
fin                             fint                                    fine              fine
pen                           pent                                   pene            pretty
smart                      smart                                 smarte        smart
stygg                        stygt                                  stygge        ugly
blomstret               blomstret                          blomstrete flower-patterned
mønstret                 mønstret                           mønstrete   patterned
rutet                         rutet                                  rutete           checked
stripet                     stripet                                stripete        stripy/striped

Grammar Point 2
Comparison of Adjectives
-In English you can compare adjectives by adding -er or -est to the end of an adjective. Some words in English use the adverbs more and most to form the comparative form of the adjective.
IE big     bigger    biggest
-In Norwegian the comparative is formed in a similar fashion
IE pen    penere   penest     (pretty, prettier, prettiest)
    stygg styggere styggest (ugly, uglier, ugliest)
-Some adjectives are irregular, as in English
god - bedre - best   (good - better- best)
dårlig - verre - verst (bad - worse - worst)
-As in English one can use mer (more) and mest (most) to form the comparative
Per er sulten (Per is hungry)
Per er sultere enn Tor (Per is hungrier than Tor)
Per er mer sulten enn Tor (Per is more hungry than Tor)
Per er sultest (Per is hungriest)
Per er mest sulten. (Per is most hungry)

Grammar 3
The Formal De
-In order to address somebody formally one does not use "du" rather one uses "De."
subject (you) De        object (you) Dem               possessive (yours) Deres

Grammar Point 4
Synes/tro 'to think'
å synes - to think, be of the opinion of
å tro - to think, believe

Grammar Point 5
Compound Nouns
-If the words making up the compound nouns are of different genders the gender of the last word in the compound noun will dictate the gender of the compound noun. IE legekontor (doctor's office) en lege, et kontor. Since kontor is the final word and an et word, the compound noun thus becomes an et word. The same is true for tannlegekontor (dentist's office).

That's pretty much it. I left out the section about telling time, if somebody else who is learning along in Danbolt would like to put that section up please do.

Edited by King John - 30-Jul-2008 at 22:51

Here is a summary of what is going on in Danbolt Chapter 11

Chapter 11
Grammar Point 1
å få, får, fikk, har fått to get/receive
-This verb has multiple meanings
a. Asking or Giving Permission:
Får jeg komme in? (May I come in?)
Kan jeg få snakke med Kari? (May I speak to Kari?)
Du kan få lov til å spise hele kaken. (You have permission to eat the whole cake.)

b. To manage, be able to or to get a chance to:
Han får ikke sove når det er lyst. (He can't sleep when it is light.)
Jeg fikk høre at hun var syk. (I heard/learnt that she was ill.)
Han fikk henne til å smile. (He managed to make her smile.)

c. A softly expressed order:
Du får gjøre som jeg sier. (You will do as I say.)

d. Future:
Vi får se. (We shall see.)

Grammar Point 2
Verbs: å legge seg to go to bed, å sette seg to sit down
Jeg legger meg klokken ti. (I go to bed at ten o'clock)
Hun legger seg sent. (He goes to bed late.)
John la seg klokken ti på elleve. (John went to bed at ten to eleven.)
Bente setter seg ved bordet. (Bente sits down by the table.)
Vil du sette deg her? (Will you sit down here?)
Da satte seg ved vinduet. (They sat down by the window.)

Grammar Point 3
Verbs: the '-ing' ending
-The present participle ending in English is -ing. In Norwegian the present participle is formed by adding -ende to the end of the stem of the verb
ie:
å smile    stem=smil present participle=smilende (smiling)
-The present participle is not used so much in Norwegian.
     -The present participle is used only after verbs which express movement, like å komme and å gå
        ie: Han kom syklende til byen. (He came cycling to the town.)
             Hun gikk smilende mot ham. (She went smiling towards him.)

Grammar Point 4
'-ing' as an adjective
-'-ing' can also be a verbal adjective in English. In latin this is known as the gerundive.
ie the twinkling star (twinkling is an adjective modifying the noun star)
-The present participle is used more as an adjective in Norwegian
ie: en glitrende stjerne (a twinkling star)
et skrkende barn (a screaming child)
en smilende dame (a smiling lady)
-when used in comparisons these adjectives do not take any endings. When using them in comparisons you must use mer and mest
ie: en lovende student (a promising student)
den mest lovende studenten (the most promising student)
den mer lovende studenten (the more promising student)

Grammar Point 5
Ikke not: position
- If the verb consists of two words, ikke comes after the first:
ie: Bente vil ikke reise til Bergen. (Bente will not travel to Bergen.)

-There are situation where ikke moves around:

     -In a subordinate (dependent) clause, ikke comes in front of the verb:
ie: Fordi han ikke var syk, gikk han på kino. (Since he was not sick/ill, he went to the movies/cinema.)
Da John ikke kom, spiste Bente all maten. (As John did not come, Bente ate all the food.)

     -If the object of the sentence is a pronoun, ikke moves to the end:
ie: Bente så ikke John. (Bente did not see John.)
Bente så ham ikke. (Bente did not see him.)

Jeg leste ikke boken. (I did not read the book.)
Jeg leste den ikke. (I did not read it.)

     - Ikke can come first if you want to stress something:
ie: Ikke spiser han og ikke drikker han. (He does not eat and he does not drink.)
Ikke fikk hun lest brevet. (He did not get to read the letter.)

     -Ikke comes first when giving an order (imperative):
ie: Ikke sitt der! (Don't sit there!)
Ikke drikk mer! (Don't drink more!)

That pretty much it. There are only five chapters left, does anybody want to talk about what we should do when we finish the book? I was thinking about trying to read some actual Norwegian books with the assistance of a true grammar, would anybody like to attempt this with me?