Breakdown of Vi venner oss til kjæledyret etter noen uker.
Questions & Answers about Vi venner oss til kjæledyret etter noen uker.
Norwegian uses the reflexive verb pattern å venne seg til (noe) “to get used to (something).” The reflexive pronoun must agree with the subject:
- jeg venner meg til
- du venner deg til
- han/hun/den/det venner seg til
- vi venner oss til
- dere venner dere til
- de venner seg til
You can’t drop the reflexive pronoun here; vi venner til is ungrammatical in this meaning.
Yes. Å bli vant til and å venne seg til are near-synonyms.
- venne seg til highlights the process of getting used to something.
- bli vant til focuses a bit more on the resulting state of being used to it.
Both are natural in everyday Norwegian: Vi blir vant til kjæledyret (etter noen uker).
With these expressions, the safe, standard choice is til:
- venne seg til noe
- være/bl i vant til noe
You may hear vant med in speech, but with venne seg you should use til. Don’t say venne seg med.
Kjæledyret means “the pet,” implying a specific pet already known from context. Use the indefinite if you mean “a pet” in general: et kjæledyr.
Possessives come after the definite noun in standard Bokmål: kjæledyret vårt (“our pet”). Pattern:
- et kjæledyr → kjæledyret (definite singular)
- flere kjæledyr → kjæledyrene (definite plural)
Yes, that’s very natural. Norwegian obeys the V2 rule: when you front an element (here, a time phrase), the finite verb must stay in second position:
- Etter noen uker | venner | vi oss til kjæledyret.
Norwegian often uses the present for general or typical developments: Vi venner oss til … can describe a general truth or an ongoing process.
For a past, completed situation, use:
- Vi vennet oss til kjæledyret etter noen uker.
- Or more idiomatically: Vi ble vant til kjæledyret etter noen uker. Perfect: Vi har vennet oss til kjæledyret.
- etter noen uker = after a few weeks (time point later than now/another reference point).
- om noen uker = in a few weeks (from now).
- i noen uker = for a few weeks (duration).
- på noen uker = within a few weeks (time needed to achieve a change), or commonly in negatives: ikke på noen uker = “not for some weeks.”
Also common: i løpet av noen uker = over the course of a few weeks.
The reflexive pronoun stays right after the finite verb:
- Natural: Vi venner oss raskt til kjæledyret.
- Odd/wrong: Vi venner raskt oss til kjæledyret.
Yes: Vi venner oss til det.
With people/animals already known, you can also use gendered pronouns: til ham/henne/den/det depending on the referent.
Yes. Å venne (noen) til (noe) means “to accustom (someone) to (something)”:
- Vi venner hunden til bånd. = We’re accustoming the dog to a leash.
There’s also a passive: Hunden vennes til bånd, but the active or reflexive versions are more common in everyday speech.
Use the definite plural and keep the rest the same:
- Vi venner oss til kjæledyrene etter noen uker.
- noen uker = a few/some weeks (unspecified, usually 2–4ish).
- et par uker = a couple of weeks (roughly 2).
- flere uker = several weeks (more than a few).
- kj- is a soft, hissy sound made far forward in the mouth (like the German “ich” sound).
- æ is like the vowel in English “cat,” often longer here.
- y is a front, rounded vowel—like French “u” in “tu.” A rough, non-IPA guide: “vee VEN-ner oss til SHEH-leh-dew-reh(t) …” (exact sounds vary by dialect).