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Questions & Answers about Jeg vasker klær.
What does each word in the sentence mean?
“Jeg” means I; “vasker” is the present tense form of to wash (from the infinitive å vaske); and “klær” means clothes. Thus, the sentence translates to I wash clothes.
What tense is used in “vasker” and how is it formed?
“Vasker” is in the present tense. In Norwegian, regular verbs form their present tense by adding -er to the verb stem. So, the infinitive å vaske becomes vasker for all subjects.
What is the grammatical structure of this sentence?
The sentence follows the standard Norwegian word order: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). “Jeg” is the subject, “vasker” is the verb, and “klær” is the object.
Why is there no article before “klær” in the sentence?
In Norwegian, when referring to a general group of items—especially with plural nouns like klær (clothes)—no article is needed. The sentence is expressing a general activity, so an article or possessive (such as mine for “my clothes”) isn’t required unless you want to specify ownership.
How does the usage of the pronoun “jeg” differ from the English “I” regarding capitalization?
While “jeg” and “I” both mean the same thing, Norwegian does not always capitalize the pronoun for “I” when it appears within a sentence. In English, “I” is always capitalized regardless of its position, but in Norwegian, only the first word of a sentence is capitalized—so “jeg” is capitalized here because it’s at the beginning.