Breakdown of Sønnen min tar på seg sin røde lue før han kaster en snøball.
han
he
en
a
før
before
min
my
rød
red
sin
his
ta på seg
to put on
luen
the cap
snøballen
the snowball
sønnen
the son
kaste
to throw
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Norwegian grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Sønnen min tar på seg sin røde lue før han kaster en snøball.
What does tar på seg mean, and why is the pronoun seg needed?
tar på seg is a fixed reflexive expression meaning “puts on” (clothes, hats, etc.). Literally “takes on oneself.” In Norwegian ta på seg always uses a reflexive object pronoun (meg, deg, seg, etc.) after the preposition på. So with han (he) you say han tar på seg = “he puts on.”
Why is sin used instead of hans in sin røde lue?
sin is the reflexive possessive pronoun referring back to the subject of the clause (here han). It means “his own.” You use sin when the possessor is the subject itself. hans is a non-reflexive third-person possessive (“his,” but referring to someone else) and is not used when the owner and the subject are the same.
Why does the adjective become røde with an -e ending in sin røde lue?
Possessive pronouns like sin make the noun phrase definite. Definite noun phrases in Norwegian require adjectives in their weak (definite) form, which typically ends in -e. Hence indefinite en rød lue → definite røde lue, and with the possessive: sin røde lue.
Why is it Sønnen min rather than Min sønn? Are both correct?
Both are correct but convey a subtle difference in focus.
- Min sønn places min before the noun; the noun stays indefinite (“my son,” one among possibly many).
- Sønnen min places the possessive after the noun, making it grammatically definite (sønnen = “the son”) and is very common in spoken Norwegian or when emphasizing your particular son.
In German, subordinate clauses put the verb at the end. Why does før han kaster en snøball keep the verb kaster in second position?
Norwegian subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions (like før) generally follow the V2 (verb-second) rule, not the German verb-final pattern. Here før is first, han (subject) second, kaster (verb) third. The verb stays in second position whenever the conjunction occupies the first slot.
Can I say før å kaste en snøball instead of før han kaster en snøball to mean “before throwing a snowball”?
No. Modern standard Norwegian expresses “before [someone] does something” with a finite clause: før + subject + finite verb (før han kaster). You don’t use før å + infinitive for temporal clauses. Always keep the subject and finite verb.
What kind of hat is a lue, and why is there an en before it?
lue is a common-gender noun meaning a woolen cap or beanie (cold-weather hat). It’s a countable singular noun, so you use the indefinite article en: en lue = “a beanie.” In our sentence it becomes definite through sin, so the base indefinite form still started with en.