Breakdown of Resepsjonisten hjelper oss med kofferten.
med
with
oss
us
hjelpe
to help
kofferten
the suitcase
resepsjonisten
the receptionist
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Questions & Answers about Resepsjonisten hjelper oss med kofferten.
What does the -en ending in resepsjonisten and kofferten indicate?
The -en suffix marks the definite singular form of a common‐gender noun in Norwegian. So resepsjonist (“a receptionist”) becomes resepsjonisten (“the receptionist”), and koffert (“a suitcase”) becomes kofferten (“the suitcase”).
Why is oss used instead of vi?
Vi is the subject form (“we”), but here “us” is the object of the verb hjelper (“helps”). The object form of “we” is oss, so you say hjelper oss (“helps us”).
What role does the preposition med play after hjelper?
In Norwegian the verb hjelpe (“to help”) takes a prepositional complement introduced by med: the pattern is hjelpe noen med noe (“to help someone with something”). Here med kofferten tells you what the help is about.
Why is the word order Resepsjonisten hjelper oss med kofferten and not something else?
Norwegian main clauses follow S-V-O-adverbial order (subject – verb – object – any prepositional/adverbial phrase). You cannot move med kofferten before the verb, and personal pronouns (like oss) must follow the verb.
How would you express this sentence in the past tense?
The past tense of hjelper is hjalp. So you say Resepsjonisten hjalp oss med kofferten (“The receptionist helped us with the suitcase”).
If there were multiple receptionists and multiple suitcases, how would you say it?
You pluralize both nouns and keep the definite articles:
Resepsjonistene hjelper oss med koffertene.
(“The receptionists help us with the suitcases.”)
How would you say “The receptionist helps them with the suitcase”?
Use dem for “them” in the object position:
Resepsjonisten hjelper dem med kofferten.
Can you omit the definite article after med and just say med koffert?
Not when you mean a specific suitcase. If it’s “the suitcase,” you need kofferten. If it’s an unspecified one, you could say med en koffert (“with a/an suitcase”), but med koffert by itself sounds odd.
Why is there no article before oss?
Oss is a personal pronoun, and pronouns never take articles in Norwegian. Only nouns (like koffert) take them.
Why don’t nouns show case endings after prepositions like some languages do?
Modern Norwegian has largely lost noun case marking (except in pronouns). Prepositions like med simply govern a noun phrase in its normal (definite/indefinite) form without additional case endings.