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Questions & Answers about Vi skal fly til Oslo i morgen.
What does the Norwegian word in bold mean: skal?
In this sentence, skal + infinitive expresses a planned or arranged future action, roughly “are going to.” It can also mean obligation (“are supposed to/must”) or a promise depending on context, but here it’s about a plan: We are going to fly to Oslo tomorrow.
Why is it fly and not flyr?
After modal verbs like skal, må, kan, vil, you use the bare infinitive (no ending and no å). So you say Vi skal fly, not Vi skal flyr and not Vi skal å fly. Verb pattern: modal + bare infinitive.
So where is the å? Should it be skal å fly?
No. After modal verbs, Norwegian does not use å. Use å with non-modal verbs: Vi planlegger å fly (“We’re planning to fly”), but Vi skal fly (“We’re going to fly”).
Could I say Vi flyr til Oslo i morgen instead?
Yes. Present tense (flyr) can also refer to the future when it’s scheduled or certain. Nuance: Vi skal fly… highlights intention/arrangement; Vi flyr… sounds more like a timetable or a settled plan.
What’s the difference between skal, vil, and kommer til å for the future?
- skal: intention/plan/arrangement (“We’re going to”).
- vil: willingness/desire (“We want/would like to”) or, less commonly in modern Norwegian, future; it often reads as volition.
- kommer til å: prediction (“will end up/likely to”).
Examples: Vi skal fly (we’ve arranged it). Vi vil fly (we want to fly). Vi kommer til å fly (it looks like we’ll be flying).
Can I move i morgen to the start?
Yes: I morgen skal vi fly til Oslo. Norwegian is a verb-second (V2) language, so when you front an element like i morgen, the finite verb (skal) stays in second position and the subject (vi) follows it.
Is the order til Oslo i morgen okay? I thought time usually comes before place.
Both are common. Many style guides prefer time before place, but Vi skal fly til Oslo i morgen is perfectly natural because til Oslo feels closely tied to the verb. You can also say Vi skal fly i morgen til Oslo, but that sounds less natural.
Why is it til Oslo and not i Oslo or på Oslo?
Use til for movement toward a destination (to a city/country): reise til Oslo, fly til Spania. Use i for being in a place: i Oslo, i Norge. på is used with some islands/areas or specific locations, but not for going to major cities: you don’t say på Oslo.
How do I negate it? Where does ikke go?
Place ikke after the finite verb (skal): Vi skal ikke fly til Oslo i morgen. If you front time: I morgen skal vi ikke fly til Oslo.
How do I make a yes/no question or ask “When…”?
- Yes/no: invert subject and verb: Skal vi fly til Oslo i morgen?
- “When” question: Når skal vi fly til Oslo? or Når flyr vi til Oslo?
Is i morgen really two words? Can I write imorgen?
Standard Bokmål writes it as two words: i morgen. The one-word form is nonstandard. Related fixed expressions: i dag (today), i går (yesterday), i natt (tonight).
Why is it i morgen here but på mandag for “on Monday”?
It’s idiomatic: i dag / i morgen / i går / i natt use i. Days of the week and parts of the day typically use på: på mandag, på morgenen (“in the morning”).
How do you pronounce the tricky parts?
- skal: hard “sk,” like “skahl.”
- fly: the y is a front rounded vowel (like German “ü” in “münchen”); lips rounded while saying “ee.”
- Oslo: commonly “OOSH-loh” (the sl sounds like “shl” in much of Eastern Norwegian).
- i: like English “ee.”
- morgen: often “MOR-ren” (the g is not pronounced in many accents).
Does fly ever mean “plane”? Is that confusing?
Yes, et fly is “a plane.” In your sentence it’s clearly a verb because it follows the modal skal and has no article. Noun: et fly; verb: å fly (infinitive), flyr (present), fløy (past), har fløyet (perfect).
Could I use other travel verbs instead of fly?
- reise (to travel): Vi skal reise til Oslo i morgen (mode of transport unspecified).
- dra (to go/leave): Vi skal dra til Oslo i morgen (colloquial/neutral).
- You can also specify transport with a noun: Vi skal ta flyet til Oslo i morgen (“take the plane”).
Does Norwegian have a special future tense?
Not a distinct inflected future. Norwegian typically uses present tense (Vi flyr i morgen) or a modal construction (Vi skal fly i morgen, Vi kommer til å fly), depending on intention, plan, or prediction.
Does vi include the person I’m talking to?
Vi is simply “we” and doesn’t encode inclusive vs. exclusive. Context tells you whether the listener is included.
How would I say “We flew to Oslo yesterday” or “We have flown to Oslo”?
- Simple past: Vi fløy til Oslo i går.
- Present perfect: Vi har fløyet til Oslo. (Often used when the result is relevant to now.)