Breakdown of Vi spiller fotball i parken hver torsdag.
vi
we
i
in
spille
to play
hver
every
parken
the park
fotballen
the football
torsdagen
the Thursday
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Questions & Answers about Vi spiller fotball i parken hver torsdag.
What is spiller, and how do you form the present tense of å spille? Also, do Norwegian verbs change form for different subjects?
Spiller is the present tense of the verb å spille (“to play”). In Norwegian, you make the present by dropping å and adding -r to the infinitive stem: spille → spiller. Unlike English, Norwegian verbs don’t change with person, so jeg spiller, du spiller, vi spiller, han spiller all use the same form.
Why is there no article before fotball? Wouldn’t it be en fotball?
Here fotball refers to the sport “football/soccer,” which in Norwegian (as in English) is used without an article: you say spiller fotball = “play football.” If you wanted to talk about an actual ball, you would use en fotball = “a ball.”
Why is it i parken instead of på parken?
In Norwegian, i is used for being inside or within an area, such as a park, house, or city: i parken (“in the park”). På is used for surfaces or certain locations (e.g., på bordet = “on the table” or på skolen = “at school”).
What does the -en ending in parken indicate, and what is the indefinite form?
Park is a masculine noun with indefinite form en park. Adding -en makes it the definite singular: parken = “the park.” So i parken literally means “in the (specific) park.”
What does hver torsdag mean, and why is torsdag in the singular?
Hver means “every” or “each,” and you always use it with the singular form of a noun: hver torsdag = “every Thursday.” You do not pluralize the noun after hver, so hver torsdager would be incorrect.
Why is hver torsdag placed at the end of the sentence, and can it be moved elsewhere?
Norwegian has relatively flexible word order for adverbials. The default here is subject-verb-object-place-time: Vi spiller fotball i parken hver torsdag. You can move hver torsdag to the front for emphasis, but because Norwegian is a V2 (verb-second) language, you must then invert the subject and verb: Hver torsdag spiller vi fotball i parken.
What’s the difference between hver torsdag and alle torsdagene?
Hver torsdag (“every Thursday”) treats each Thursday as a recurring event. Alle torsdagene uses alle (“all”) with the definite plural (torsdagene = “the Thursdays”), and refers to a specific set of Thursdays (e.g., “all the Thursdays this month”). It’s less common for habitual actions.