Questions & Answers about Jeg er forkjølet i dag.
Norwegian normally uses to be with adjectives for states like illness, hunger, etc., not to have with a noun.
- Jeg er forkjølet. = I have a cold. (literally I am cold-y / I am with-a-cold.)
- You cannot say *jeg har forkjølet – that is ungrammatical.
- This pattern is the same in other expressions:
- Jeg er sulten. = I am hungry / I have hunger.
- Jeg er trøtt. = I am tired.
Forkjølet means having a (usually mild) cold – sniffles, sore throat, maybe a little fever. It does not mean any kind of illness.
- Jeg er forkjølet. = I have a cold.
- Jeg er syk. = I am sick / ill (more general, could be something serious).
- Jeg er litt forkjølet. softens it: I have a bit of a cold / I’m a bit under the weather.
Yes, forkjølet is an adjective (originally a past participle used as an adjective).
In standard written Bokmål, it can follow normal adjective patterns:
- En forkjølet mann / kvinne – a man / woman who has a cold
- Et forkjølet barn – a child who has a cold
- De forkjølte barna – the children who have colds
In everyday spoken Norwegian, many people just use forkjølet in all forms, especially after er:
- Vi er forkjølet. – We have colds.
So as a learner, using forkjølet in all cases is fine in speech; the forkjølte plural/definite form is mainly a writing detail.
They mean the same thing: I have a cold.
- Forkjølet is the more standard / neutral written form in Bokmål.
Forkjøla is very common in speech and in informal writing; it sounds a bit more colloquial.
You can safely use forkjølet in all contexts. Use forkjøla if you want to sound more informal or copy how many Norwegians actually speak.
Norwegian prefers to put time expressions like i dag either:
- At the end of the sentence:
- Jeg er forkjølet i dag. (very natural, neutral)
- At the beginning, with inversion:
- I dag er jeg forkjølet. (emphasises today)
Jeg er i dag forkjølet is grammatical, but it sounds rather formal or written, not like normal conversation. So the most typical everyday version is exactly your sentence: Jeg er forkjølet i dag.
Yes. Jeg er forkjølet. simply means I have a cold (now), with no specific time mentioned.
You add i dag to specify that this is the situation today:
- Jeg er forkjølet. – I have a cold.
- Jeg er forkjølet i dag. – I have a cold today (maybe implying that you didn’t yesterday, or that today it’s affecting your plans).
They talk about different things:
- Jeg er forkjølet. – I have a cold (an illness).
- Jeg er kald. – I am cold (my body feels cold, or metaphorically I’m a cold person).
- Jeg fryser. – I’m freezing / I feel cold right now.
So if you are sick with a cold, you should use forkjølet, not kald or fryser.
One approximate way (there is dialect variation) is:
- Jeg – like “yai” or “yeah” with a little y sound: [jæi]
- er – like “air” but shorter: [ær]
- for – often reduced, a bit like “foh” or “for” but short: [foɾ]
- kjø – kj is a soft sound made further forward than English sh, and ø is like the vowel in British “bird” but with rounded lips: [çø]
- let – like “let”: [lət]
- i dag – [i dɑːg], roughly “ee dahg”
Very rough English-style approximation: “yai air for-SHYUH-let ee dahg.”
The kj / jø part will take practice; listening to natives helps a lot.
In standard modern Norwegian, it should be written as two words: i dag.
You may see idag in informal texts or older writing, but the recommended, correct spelling today is i dag.
You can say jeg har en forkjølelse, and it is grammatically correct, but it is:
- less common in everyday speech
- a bit more formal / medical-sounding
The very normal, idiomatic way to say I have a cold is:
- Jeg er forkjølet.
Use har en forkjølelse if you really want to emphasise the illness as a thing, but in daily conversation er forkjølet is strongly preferred.
For negation:
- Jeg er ikke forkjølet i dag.
I don’t have a cold today.
Note the word order: er ikke, with ikke after the verb.
For duration:
- Jeg har vært forkjølet i tre dager.
I’ve had a cold for three days.
You can replace i tre dager with other time expressions:
- Jeg har vært forkjølet siden mandag. – since Monday
- Jeg har vært forkjølet hele uka. – all week