Vi må hemmeligholde planen.

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Breakdown of Vi må hemmeligholde planen.

• må: must
• planen: the plan
• hemmeligholde: to keep secret

Questions & Answers about Vi må hemmeligholde planen.

Why is there no å before hemmeligholde?

Because må is a modal verb. In Norwegian, modal verbs like kan, skal, vil, må, bør are normally followed by the bare infinitive, without å.

So:

• Vi må hemmeligholde planen. = We must keep the plan secret.
• not Vi må å hemmeligholde planen.

This is similar to English must keep, not must to keep.

What does må mean here exactly?

Må usually means must or have to. It expresses necessity or obligation.

In this sentence, Vi må hemmeligholde planen means that keeping the plan secret is necessary.

A few related forms:

• må = must / have to
• måtte = had to / must in some contexts
• må can also sometimes mean be likely to depending on context, but here it clearly means must

Is hemmeligholde one word? How is it built?