Introduction to Nynorsk/Other core words

Interrogatives
Interrogatives are the words that are used to ask questions. They include both adverbs and pronouns.

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.


 * 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
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.

Depending on context, it is better to translate alt as "everything" or "all of it", and alle as "everyone" or "all of them".

The adverb same gives the definite form to any noun that comes after it: Det hende same dagen ("It happened the same day").

Numbers
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.


 * 1) Eg er heime.
 * 2) Kvifor fekk du denne?
 * 3) Dei såg fem fuglar under brua. (fuglar = birds, brua = the bridge)
 * 4) Eg kjem frå Kvalsund, men bur i Tromsø.