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Questions & Answers about Alle barn spiser suppe.
What does Alle mean in this sentence?
Alle means all and works as a determiner covering every member of a group. So Alle barn literally means all children.
Why doesn’t barn get an -er or other plural ending?
Barn is one of a few Norwegian nouns whose plural form is identical to its singular.
• Indefinite singular: et barn
• Indefinite plural: barn
• Definite singular: barnet
• Definite plural: barna
Why is there no article before suppe?
Here suppe is used in the indefinite singular to speak about soup in general (uncountable/mass noun). If you wanted a specific soup, you’d use the definite form: suppen.
Is the word order always Subject-Verb-Object in Norwegian?
In main clauses Norwegian follows the V2 rule: the finite verb is the second element. With a simple subject first, you get SVO. Hence Alle barn (S) spiser (V) suppe (O).
How would you say The children eat the soup?
Use the definite plural for barn and definite singular for suppe:
Barna spiser suppen.
Could I say Alle barna spiser suppe?
Yes, but now you’re saying all the children (a specific group) rather than all children in general.
How do you form the negative of this sentence?
You can either negate the verb directly:
Alle barn spiser ikke suppe. (All children do not eat soup.)
Or more idiomatically to mean “Not all children eat soup,” put ikke in front of alle:
Ikke alle barn spiser suppe.
How would you ask Do all children eat soup??
Invert verb and subject to form a yes/no question:
Spiser alle barn suppe?