Breakdown of Treneren hjelper barna med øvelsen.
med
with
barnet
the child
hjelpe
to help
øvelsen
the exercise
Questions & Answers about Treneren hjelper barna med øvelsen.
Why do treneren, barna, and øvelsen all end in -en or -a instead of using a separate word for “the”?
In Norwegian the definite article usually attaches to the end of the noun as a suffix, not as a separate word.
• en trener (a coach) → treneren (the coach)
• et barn (a child) → indefinite plural barn, definite plural barna (the children)
• en øvelse (an exercise) → øvelsen (the exercise)
Why is barna “the children” and not barnene?
Most neuter nouns form the definite plural with -ene, but barn is irregular:
• Indefinite singular: et barn
• Indefinite plural: barn
• Definite singular: barnet
• Definite plural: barna
How do I know which is the direct object and which is a prepositional object in this sentence?
In Treneren hjelper barna med øvelsen:
• barna is the direct object (the ones being helped). “Å hjelpe noen” takes a direct object without a preposition.
• med øvelsen is a prepositional object introduced by med (help with something).
Why is the preposition med used here? Could I say something else?