Han gir et negativt svar.

he

Breakdown of Han gir et negativt svar.

• et: a
• gi: to give
• svaret: the answer

Questions & Answers about Han gir et negativt svar.

What does han mean?

Han means he. It is the third-person singular masculine subject pronoun in Norwegian.

Examples:

• Han kommer. = He is coming.
• Han leser. = He is reading.

In your sentence, han is the subject: the person doing the action.

Why is it gir and not gi?

Gi is the infinitive form, meaning to give.
Gir is the present tense, meaning gives or is giving.

So:

• å gi = to give
• gir = gives / is giving
• ga = gave
• har gitt = has given

Since the sentence is a normal present-tense statement, Norwegian uses gir:

• Han gir et negativt svar. = He gives a negative answer.

Why is it et and not en?

Because svar is a neuter noun in Norwegian.

Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender, and the indefinite article must match the noun:

• en for common gender
• et for neuter

So:

• et svar = an answer

You simply have to learn the gender with the noun:

• et svar
• svaret = the answer