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Questions & Answers about Jeg lurer på om vi har tid.
What does the phrase lurer på mean, and why does it require på?
lurer på is a fixed verb-preposition combination meaning “to wonder about.” The base verb lure can mean “to trick” or “to suspect,” but when you want to express “wondering,” you must add på. Dropping på would make the phrase ungrammatical.
Why do we use om here instead of hvis, and what function does it have?
In this sentence, om introduces an indirect yes/no question (“whether”). It tells us you’re embedding a question: “I wonder whether we have time.” In contrast, hvis marks a condition (“if” in the sense of “on the condition that”) and would change the meaning to something like “if we have time, then…”
Why is the word order om vi har tid and not om har vi tid?
Because after a subordinating conjunction like om, Norwegian uses normal subject-verb-object order. You only invert verb and subject in main clauses or direct questions. An embedded clause stays om vi har tid (subject before verb).
Why isn’t there an article before tid? Should it be en tid?
Here tid refers to the uncountable concept of “time” in general (free time), so it takes no article. en tid would mean “a (specific) time” or “a period,” which is a different, countable sense.
Is Jeg lurer på om vi har tid. a question or a statement, and how would you punctuate it?
It’s a statement containing an indirect question, so you end it with a period. In speech you might raise your intonation slightly at the end, but it remains a declarative sentence, not a direct question.
Could you omit jeg and simply say Lurer på om vi har tid?
Standard Norwegian requires a subject in a main clause, so you normally keep jeg. Dropping it sounds very informal—more like a note or headline—and is not typical in everyday speech or formal writing.
How do you pronounce lurer correctly in Norwegian?
lurer is pronounced [ˈluːɾər]. The u is a long, rounded vowel (similar to English “oo” in “goose,” but more fronted), and the r is often an alveolar tap [ɾ], so it sounds like “LOO-rer,” with stress on the first syllable.
Can you use a different verb instead of lurer på, like tenker på?
Not for “wondering.” tenker på means “think about,” implying concrete thoughts or plans. You could say Jeg vurderer om vi har tid (“I’m considering whether we have time”), but that shifts the nuance to planning/assessing. To express “I wonder whether we have time,” jeg lurer på om is the most natural.