Vi må fullføre jobben.

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Breakdown of Vi må fullføre jobben.

• må: must
• jobben: the job
• fullføre: to complete

Questions & Answers about Vi må fullføre jobben.

Why is there no å before fullføre?

Because må is a modal verb, and in Norwegian modal verbs are followed by the bare infinitive.

So:

• Vi må fullføre jobben. = We must finish the job.

Not:

• Vi må å fullføre jobben. ❌

This is similar to English, where we say must finish, not must to finish.

Other common Norwegian modal verbs that work the same way are:

• kan = can
• skal = shall / will / am going to
• vil = want to / will
• bør = should

Examples:

• Jeg kan svømme. = I can swim.
• Du bør lese dette. = You should read this.

Why is it jobben and not just jobb?

Jobben is the definite form of jobb.

• en jobb = a job
• jobben = the job

In Norwegian, definiteness is usually shown by adding an ending to the noun.

So:

• Vi må fullføre jobb. ❌
• Vi må fullføre jobben. ✅

Here, jobben means a specific job or task that both speaker and listener know about: the job.

What does each word do in the sentence?