Breakdown of Det nye semesteret begynner torsdag, og laget får mindre tid til fotball.
til
to
og
and
tiden
the time
begynne
to begin
ny
new
få
to get
mindre
less
fotballen
the football
torsdagen
the Thursday
laget
the team
semesteret
the semester
det
the
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Questions & Answers about Det nye semesteret begynner torsdag, og laget får mindre tid til fotball.
Why is the adjective ny inflected as nye in det nye semesteret?
In Norwegian, adjectives preceding a definite noun take an -e ending. Here det and the -et on semesteret make the phrase definite, so ny becomes nye (“the new semester”). This inflection signals definiteness.
What’s the difference between det nye semesteret and neste semester?
Det nye semesteret literally means “the new semester” (the one that is just starting), while neste semester means “the next semester” in sequence (the one coming up after the current one). Use nye to stress newness and neste to stress order.
Why is there no preposition before torsdag? In English you’d say “on Thursday.”
In Norwegian, you often omit på when a weekday directly follows the verb in a statement. The structure is Subject + Verb + Time expression (day) without a preposition. You could say Det nye semesteret begynner på torsdag, but dropping på is common, especially in announcements or headlines.
Why is torsdag placed after the verb begynner?
Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule: the finite verb must be the second element. Here the subject det nye semesteret comes first, the verb begynner second, and then the time adverbial torsdag. You could also front the time: Torsdag begynner det nye semesteret.
Why is laget in the definite form instead of et lag?
The sentence refers to a specific team (for example, “our team”), so it’s definite: laget (the team). If you were talking about any team in general, you’d say et lag (“a team”).
How does the comparative mindre work in laget får mindre tid?
Mindre is the comparative form of liten/lite (little) or litt (a little). In mindre tid it means “less time.” Because there’s an implicit comparison (e.g. “less than before”), you don’t need enn here. To compare explicitly you could say mindre tid enn før.
Why is til used in tid til fotball and not for?
In Norwegian, til is used to express that time is allocated to an activity or purpose: tid til fotball means “time for football.” For wouldn’t sound natural in this context. You could also say tid til å spille fotball (“time to play football”), but the shorter tid til fotball is common and idiomatic.