Breakdown of Jeg kutter en gulrot og legger den i et glass med vann.
jeg
I
en
a
vannet
the water
et
a
med
with
i
in
og
and
den
it
legge
to put
gulroten
the carrot
kutte
to cut
glasset
the glass
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Questions & Answers about Jeg kutter en gulrot og legger den i et glass med vann.
What nuance does the verb kutte carry in Norwegian, and how does it differ from skjære?
Kutte means “to chop” or “to cut roughly into pieces,” often used when you’re chopping vegetables or cutting something in a coarse way. Skjære means “to slice” or “to carve” more precisely (for example, slicing bread or carving meat). Since you’re chopping a carrot into pieces, kutte is the most natural choice here.
Why is the indefinite article en used before gulrot, and how does gender affect this?
In Bokmål, nouns have two common‐gender forms (combining masculine and feminine) and a neuter form. Common‐gender nouns take en (or sometimes ei), while neuter nouns take et. Gulrot is a common‐gender noun here, so it uses en.
Can you also say ei gulrot, and is there any difference?
Yes. In standard Bokmål many feminine nouns allow both en (common) and ei (feminine). Ei gulrot is the pure feminine form; en gulrot is the common‐gender form. There’s no change in meaning—both are correct, though ei emphasizes the feminine gender more.
Why is den used to refer to the carrot and not det?
Den is the singular third‐person pronoun for common‐gender nouns (masculine and feminine), while det is used for neuter nouns. Since gulrot is common gender, you refer back to it with den.
What’s the difference between the prepositions i and på, and why is i used in i et glass med vann?
I means “in,” indicating something goes inside an enclosure. På means “on,” indicating placement atop a surface. Because you’re putting the carrot inside the glass, you need i.
What does med mean in et glass med vann, and why isn’t av used?
Med literally means “with,” describing what the glass contains (“a glass with water”). Av means “of” and is less common in this context. You could also say et glass vann without any preposition, but med is very natural.
Could you simply say et glass vann, omitting med?
Absolutely. Et glass vann is idiomatic and often used in spoken Norwegian. Omitting med makes the phrase shorter without changing the meaning.
When should you use legge versus sette to describe placing something?
Use legge when laying something down horizontally, and sette when placing something upright. Here the carrot is laid or immersed in water, so you legger den i et glass med vann.
How do you form the present tense of these verbs, and what tense are kutter and legger?
Norwegian forms the present tense by adding -r to the infinitive: kutte → kutter, legge → legger. There’s no separate continuous form—jeg kutter can mean “I cut” or “I am cutting.”
Why isn’t there a comma before og, and how does word order work when linking verbs?
In Norwegian you don’t place a comma before og when two clauses share the same subject. The word order stays Subject-Verb-Object in both parts:
Jeg (S) kutter (V) en gulrot (O) og legger (V) den (O) i et glass med vann.