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Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Hun kan ombestemme seg. - She can change her mind.

Hardcore Norwegian
/Preparing for an overnight guest
/Hun kan ombestemme seg.

Hun kan ombestemme seg.

Word

Hun kan ombestemme seg.

Meaning

She can change her mind.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Norwegian

Lesson

Preparing for an overnight guest

Breakdown of Hun kan ombestemme seg.

to change one's mind

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Questions & Answers about Hun kan ombestemme seg.

What does kan mean here, and is it the same as English can?

Yes. In this sentence, kan is the modal verb can.

So Hun kan ombestemme seg means that she is able to or may be able to change her mind, depending on context.

A few examples:

Hun kan komme i morgen. = She can come tomorrow.
Jeg kan hjelpe deg. = I can help you.

Like English can, kan is followed by another verb in the infinitive.

Why is the verb ombestemme followed by seg?

Because ombestemme seg is a reflexive verb in Norwegian. That means the action is directed back toward the subject.

So:

Hun ombestemmer seg. = She changes her mind.
literally, it works like She re-decides herself, though that literal version is not natural English.

The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject:

Jeg ombestemmer meg = I change my mind
Du ombestemmer deg = You change your mind
Hun ombestemmer seg = She changes her mind
Vi ombestemmer oss = We change our mind / change our minds

You normally need the reflexive pronoun with this verb.

What exactly does ombestemme mean?

Ombestemme means to change one’s mind or to decide differently after already making a decision.

It is built from:

om- = again / differently / re-
bestemme = decide

So the idea is: to decide again, or to reverse a previous decision.

That is why ombestemme seg is commonly translated as change one’s mind.

Why is it ombestemme and not ombestemmer after kan?

After a modal verb like kan, Norwegian uses the infinitive form of the main verb, without å.

So:

Hun kan ombestemme seg. not
Hun kan ombestemmer seg.

This is the same pattern as:

Jeg kan snakke norsk. = I can speak Norwegian.
Vi må gå. = We must go.
Du vil spise. = You want to eat.

After modal verbs such as kan, skal, vil, må, bør, you normally use the bare infinitive.

Why is there no å before ombestemme?

Because å is normally not used after modal verbs.

Compare:

Hun prøver å ombestemme seg. = She tries to change her mind.
Hun ønsker å ombestemme seg. = She wants to change her mind.
Hun kan ombestemme seg. = She can change her mind.

So:

after prøver / ønsker, you use å
after kan, you do not use å

Is seg the same as herself?

Not exactly. Seg is a reflexive pronoun used for himself / herself / itself / themselves in the third person, depending on the subject.

In this sentence:

Hun ... seg = she ... herself

But in English, change herself and change her mind are different things. In Norwegian, ombestemme seg is just the normal expression for change one’s mind.

So seg is grammatically reflexive, but you should learn ombestemme seg as a whole expression.

Can I say just Hun kan ombestemme without seg?

Normally, no. For the meaning change her mind, you need seg.

Correct:

Hun kan ombestemme seg.

Without seg, it sounds incomplete or unnatural for this meaning.

It is best to memorize the verb as:

å ombestemme seg = to change one’s mind

Where does the negation go if I want to say She can’t change her mind?

The usual word order is:

Hun kan ikke ombestemme seg.

Here ikke comes after the finite verb (kan) and before the infinitive phrase.

More examples:

Jeg kan ikke komme. = I can’t come.
Vi vil ikke dra. = We don’t want to leave.

How would this sentence change in a question?

In a yes/no question, the finite verb moves to the first position:

Kan hun ombestemme seg? = Can she change her mind?

This is a very common Norwegian pattern:

statement: Hun kan ombestemme seg.
question: Kan hun ombestemme seg?

How would I say this in the present tense without can?

You would say:

Hun ombestemmer seg. = She changes her mind / She is changing her mind

Here ombestemmer is the present tense form.

Compare:

Hun kan ombestemme seg. = She can change her mind
Hun ombestemmer seg. = She changes her mind / She is changing her mind

How do I pronounce ombestemme seg?

A helpful approximate guide for English speakers is:

Hun ≈ like hoon, but with a more rounded vowel
kan ≈ kahn
ombestemme ≈ om-beh-STEM-meh
seg is often pronounced like sai or sei in many varieties of Norwegian speech, though spelling remains seg

A few useful notes:

The stemme part has the main stress: ombeSTEMme
Spoken pronunciation can vary by dialect
In careful Bokmål-oriented pronunciation, learners often start with something close to sei for seg

Is this sentence specifically Bokmål or Nynorsk?

This exact sentence is standard Bokmål:

Hun kan ombestemme seg.

In Nynorsk, you would more likely see:

Ho kan ombestemme seg.

The main difference here is hun vs ho for she.

Can kan also mean may here, not just can?

Sometimes, yes. Depending on context, kan can express:

ability: can
possibility: may / might

So Hun kan ombestemme seg could mean:

She can change her mind.
or, in the right context,
She may change her mind.

If the meaning is about permission, Norwegian often uses other wording depending on the situation, but kan is still very common and flexible.

What are the reflexive forms with å ombestemme seg?

Here is the full set:

jeg ombestemmer meg = I change my mind
du ombestemmer deg = you change your mind
han ombestemmer seg = he changes his mind
hun ombestemmer seg = she changes her mind
vi ombestemmer oss = we change our minds
dere ombestemmer dere = you change your minds
de ombestemmer seg = they change their minds

This is very useful to memorize, because the reflexive pronoun changes with the subject.

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