Questions & Answers about Jeg ser et bilde på veggen.
What’s the difference between ser and ser på?
- å se (conjugated ser) means to see something—take a direct object:
jeg ser et bilde = I see a picture - å se på (conjugated ser på) means to look at something—verb plus på:
jeg ser på bildet = I’m looking at the picture
In our sentence we use ser because it simply means “see,” not “look at.”
Why do we say et bilde and not just bilde or en bilde?
- Norwegian requires an article or determiner with countable nouns—you cannot say jeg ser bilde without one.
- bilde is a neuter noun, so its indefinite article is et.
- en bilde would be wrong because en is for common‐gender nouns, not neuter.
Why is the preposition på used here, and not i or something else?
- på = on when something is on a surface (wall, table, floor)
- i = in when something is inside another object (box, house)
A picture hangs on the surface of the wall, so you say på veggen.