Breakdown of Kokken tilsetter vann i suppen.
vannet
the water
i
in
suppen
the soup
kokken
the chef
tilsette
to add
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Questions & Answers about Kokken tilsetter vann i suppen.
What does tilsetter mean and what verb is it derived from?
tilsetter is the third-person singular present tense of the inseparable verb å tilsette (“to add as an ingredient”). In Kokken tilsetter vann i suppen, it simply means “(he) adds.”
Why is there no article before vann?
vann is an uncountable or mass noun in Norwegian. Just like “water” in English, it does not take an indefinite article. You say tilsetter vann, not tilsetter et vann.
Why is suppen in the definite form?
The suffix -en marks definiteness. suppen means “the soup,” indicating a specific soup that both speaker and listener know about.
Why is the preposition i used instead of til or inn i?
i suppen literally means “in/into the soup,” which is how you express adding something inside a mixture or container. til alone would mean “to” directionally, and while inn i suppen (“into the soup”) is grammatically possible, ordinary usage with tilsette is just i suppen.
Is å tilsette a separable verb? Can you split til and sette?
No. å tilsette is an inseparable (prefixed) verb. You never separate the prefix til from sette. Conjugations stay together: tilsetter, tilsatte, har tilsatt.
Could you reorder the sentence as Kokken tilsetter suppen vann?
No. vann is the direct object of tilsette, and suppen is part of the prepositional phrase i suppen. The correct order is Subject–Verb–Direct Object–Prepositional Phrase.
What are other ways to say “add water to the soup” in Norwegian?
• Kokken heller vann i suppen (“the cook pours water into the soup”)
• Kokken fyller på suppen med vann (“the cook tops up the soup with water”)
• Kokken legger til vann i suppen (less common in cooking, more abstract “adds water to the soup”)
How do you pronounce tilsetter vann i suppen, and where is the stress?
Stress falls on the second syllable of tilsetter (til-SET-ter) and on the first of suppen (SUP-pen). A rough phonetic transcription is [tilˈsetːər vann i ˈsʉpːən].