Hold undertøyet hjemme for ikke å blande det med yttertøyet.

with

Breakdown of Hold undertøyet hjemme for ikke å blande det med yttertøyet.

• det: it
• holde: to keep
• hjemme: at home

Questions & Answers about Hold undertøyet hjemme for ikke å blande det med yttertøyet.

What does hold mean here, and what form is it?

Hold is the imperative form of å holde.

So this sentence is giving an instruction or command:

• å holde = to keep / to hold
• hold! = keep! / hold!

In this sentence, hold undertøyet hjemme means something like keep the underwear at home.

A native English speaker may expect something closer to keep, and that is exactly how hold is functioning here, even though the basic verb holde can also mean hold in other contexts.

Why do undertøyet and yttertøyet end in -et?

The ending -et is the definite article attached to the noun.

Both undertøy and yttertøy are neuter nouns, so:

• et undertøy = an underwear garment / underwear

• undertøyet = the underwear

• et yttertøy = an outer garment / outerwear
• yttertøyet = the outerwear

Norwegian usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the.

So:

• undertøyet = the underwear
• yttertøyet = the outerwear