Introduction to Nynorsk/Other core words

Interrogatives Interrogatives are the words that are used to ask questions. They include both adverbs and pronouns. + interrogatives kva? what? kven? who? kvar? where? korleis? how? kvifor? why? når? when? Adverbs Unlike in English, where a lot of adverbs end with -ly, there is no easy way to recognise adverbs in Nynorsk without context. However, a lot of adjectives ending in -leg are also used as adverbs. Below is a list that hopefully includes a lot of the most important adverbs. + adverbs her here der there ikkje not berre only no or nå now då then bort away i morgon tomorrow i går yesterday saman together sjeldan1 rarely, seldom heime at home ille badly, poorly 1: This adverb has degree forms: sjeldnare ("more rarely"), sjeldnast ("most rarely"), sjeldnaste ("(the) most rarely"). It is also identical to an adjective with the related meaning: sjeldan ("rare"). Determiners + den masculine feminine neuter plural den det dei that those + denne masculine feminine neuter plural denne dette desse this these denne and its forms are typically used for something close, while den may be used for something farther away. As in Ikkje dette huset, men det. ("Not this house (close), but that [one] (farther away)".) It is often the case that adding "one" or "ones" to the English translation is appropriate; as in the translation of the previous example. + all masculine feminine neuter plural all alt alle all Depending on context, it is better to translate alt as "everything" or "all of it", and alle as "everyone" or "all of them". + same sole form same same The adverb same gives the definite form to any noun that comes after it: Det hende same dagen ("It happened the same day"). Prepositions + prepositions opp up ned down over over på on under under frå from av of ut out inn in i in etter after hjå or hos at, by, with ved at, by Conjunctions + conjunctions og and men but Numbers + numbers 1-20 éin to tre fire fem seks sju åtte ni ti elleve tolv tretten fjorten femten seksten sytten atten nitten tjue one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven twelve thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen seventeen eighteen nineteen twenty + numbers 21+ tjueéin tretti førti femti seksti sytti åtti nitti hundre tusen million milliard twenty-one thirty forty fifty sixty seventy eighty ninety hundred thousand million billion 22, 34, 45 and so one are all created like 21 is in the table above: add the number that is smaller than ten to the multiple of ten; i.e. 52 is femti (50) + to (2) = femtito. Essentially, the same system as in English. For numbers larger than 100, the conjunction og is used: 101 is either eitt hundre og éin or simply hundre og éin. 3452 is Tre tusen fire hundre og femtito. This is the pronunciation, of course. Large numbers are seldom written with letters (twelve might be used as a limit). Examples Try to figure out the meaning of the following sentences by using the tables above (and whatever you have learnt from the previous pages). The answer is accessed by hovering the mouse pointer over the sentence. Eg er heime. Kvifor fekk du denne? Dei såg fem fuglar under brua. (fuglar = birds, brua = the bridge) Eg kjem frå Kvalsund, men bur i Tromsø.