Vi besøker museet i dag.

We visit the museum today.

Breakdown of Vi besøker museet i dag.

• vi: we
• i dag: today
• besøke: to visit
• museet: the museum

Questions & Answers about Vi besøker museet i dag.

Why is i dag written as two separate words instead of one like English “today”?

In Norwegian Bokmål, i dag (literally “in day”) is always two words. It’s a preposition i (“in”) plus the noun dag (“day”). The one-word form idag is considered archaic or non-standard in modern Bokmål, so stick with i dag.

What does the ending “-et” in museet mean?

The “-et” is the definite article fused onto the noun. In Norwegian, you form the definite singular of neuter nouns by adding -et (museum → museet). So et museum is “a museum,” and museet is “the museum.”

Why don’t we use a preposition before museet, like på or i?

The verb besøker (“visit”) takes a direct object in Norwegian, just like “visit” in English. You simply say besøker museet (“visit the museum”) without adding på or i. If you want to express “at the museum” (location rather than action), you could say på museet or i museet, but that’s a different construction.

Why is besøker in the present tense if the trip is happening today? How do we say “will visit”?

Norwegian uses the simple present to describe both ongoing actions and near-future plans, much like English continuous (“are visiting”) or future (“will visit”).  • Vi besøker museet i dag. – “We’re visiting the museum today.” (present used for a planned action)
To express future more explicitly, you can add an auxiliary:
 • Vi kommer til å besøke museet i morgen. – “We’re going to visit the museum tomorrow.”

Can we drop the subject vi since it’s clear from context?

No. Norwegian is not a pro-drop language like Spanish. You must include the subject pronoun (jeg, du, han, vi etc.) in main clauses, so you can’t omit vi here.

How do you form the plural if you want to say “We visit museums today”?

The indefinite plural of museum is museer (rarely museumer). The definite plural is museene.  • Indefinite plural: Vi besøker museer i dag. – “We visit museums today.”
 • Definite plural: Vi besøker museene i dag. – “We visit the museums today.”

How is besøker pronounced?

In standard Eastern Bokmål you’d pronounce besøker roughly as [bə-SØH-kər], with the stress on the second syllable:
 • be [bə] – like the “a” in “about”
 • sø [søː] – a mid-rounded front vowel, similar to the “ur” in French “brun”
 • ker [kər] – the final “er” pronounced like the “er” in English “water” (non-rhotic)

Is there a difference between i dag and i dagene?

Yes.
 • i dag – “today.”
 • i dagene – “in the days” (definite plural of dag), as in i dagene etterpå (“in the days afterward”). They’re unrelated expressions.