Questions & Answers about Jeg er redd for torden.
What does redd mean here and what part of speech is it?
In Jeg er redd for torden, redd is an adjective meaning afraid or scared, describing the subject’s emotional state. It functions like any other predicate adjective following the verb er (to be).
Why is for used after redd rather than av? In English we say afraid of.
In Norwegian, when you express being afraid of something, you always use redd for plus the thing you fear. The preposition for corresponds to English of in this construction, even though for normally translates as for in other contexts.
Why isn’t there an article before torden? Shouldn’t it be en torden or tordenen?
The noun torden (thunder) is uncountable in Norwegian—just like water or air. Uncountable nouns do not take an indefinite article, so you simply say torden when referring to thunder in general.
Can you pluralize torden to talk about thunderstorms? How would you say I’m afraid of thunderstorms?