Breakdown of Han holder på å reparere lampen fordi den blinker hele tiden.
han
he
å
to
den
it
fordi
because
lampen
the lamp
holde på
to be in the process of
reparere
to repair
blinke
to blink
hele tiden
all the time
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Questions & Answers about Han holder på å reparere lampen fordi den blinker hele tiden.
What does holder på å mean in this sentence?
holder på å is a fixed construction meaning “to be in the process of” or “to be busy doing” something. It emphasizes that the action is currently ongoing.
Why is there an å before reparere?
After holder på you always use the infinitive marker å before a verb. It’s similar to the English “to” in “to repair.”
Why use holder på å reparere instead of just reparerer?
Both are correct, but holder på å reparere stresses that the repair is actively happening right now, whereas reparerer is simply the present tense saying “he repairs.”
Why is lampe in the definite form lampen?
Because the sentence talks about a specific lamp, you make the noun definite by adding -en (common gender) or -a (feminine). Here lampe is common gender, so it becomes lampen.
Why is the pronoun den used for lampen, and not det or denne?
Lampe is a common-gender noun (not neuter), so its pronoun is den. Det is for neuter nouns. Denne would mean “this one,” adding extra emphasis.
What does blinker mean here, and what is its infinitive form?
Blinker is the present tense of å blinke, meaning “to blink” or “to flicker” (i.e., turn on and off). It describes the lamp’s repeated flickering.
Why is blinker in the present tense, even though the main clause uses holder på å?
In Norwegian, subordinate clauses giving a reason use the simple present (blinker) for an action happening regularly or continuously at the moment. It’s like English because it keeps blinking.
What role does fordi play in this sentence?
Fordi means “because” and introduces the cause. In spoken Norwegian you might hear for used similarly, but fordi is standard in writing.
What does hele tiden mean, and how does it differ from alltid?
Hele tiden literally means “the whole time” or “all the time,” highlighting that something is continuous or unceasing. Alltid means “always,” which is more general. In many contexts they overlap, but hele tiden often feels more immediate and uninterrupted.
Are there other ways to express “is in the process of repairing” in Norwegian?
Yes. You can say han er i ferd med å reparere lampen or han er i gang med å reparere lampen, both convey the same “in the process of” meaning.