Breakdown of Kunden ringer banken for å spørre etter bankkortet sitt.
Questions & Answers about Kunden ringer banken for å spørre etter bankkortet sitt.
Norwegian uses the definite form much more than English does, especially when it is clear which person/thing we are talking about.
- kunden = the customer (a specific customer in this situation)
- banken = the bank (the bank where the customer has an account, not just any bank)
- bankkortet = the bank card (the customer’s own, specific card)
If you said:
- En kunde ringer en bank for å spørre etter et bankkort.
→ A customer calls a bank to ask about a bank card. (all non‑specific / anonymous)
So: definite endings -en / -et mark that these are known, specific entities in the context, just like the in English, but the definite form is attached to the noun itself in Norwegian.
Norwegian present tense (ringer) covers both simple and progressive meanings:
- Kunden ringer banken
can be translated as:- The customer calls the bank (habitual / general)
- The customer is calling the bank (right now)
Context decides which English tense is best. Norwegian doesn’t have a separate -ing form the way English does, so ringer is used for both.
You can say both, but there is a nuance of style/usage:
ringe noen (without til) is very common and fully standard:
- Kunden ringer banken. = The customer calls the bank.
ringe til noen is also correct, but slightly more wordy:
- Kunden ringer til banken.
In everyday Norwegian, you will very often hear the direct object pattern:
- Jeg ringer deg senere. – I’ll call you later.
- Hun ringte sjefen. – She called the boss.
So ringer banken is the most natural and typical version.
Yes. for å + infinitive expresses purpose, very similar to English in order to or just to (when it means purpose):
- Kunden ringer banken for å spørre …
= The customer calls the bank (in order) to ask …
Structure:
- for å + [infinitive]
- for å spørre – to ask (for a purpose)
- for å kjøpe melk – to buy milk
- for å lære norsk – to learn Norwegian
The verb after å is always in the infinitive (dictionary form): spørre, kjøpe, lære, etc.
This is a very common confusion.
- å = the infinitive marker (used before a verb: “to do”)
- og = and
In for å spørre, the word after å is a verb (spørre → “ask”), so we must use å, not og.
Compare:
- for å spørre – in order to ask
- for å spise og drikke – in order to eat and drink
- å spise (to eat) → verb → å
- og drikke (and drink) → connecting two verbs → og
So think:
- If it’s “to + verb” → å
- If it’s “and” → og
spørre etter noe literally means ask after / ask for something, usually when you want to locate, get, or check on something:
- spørre etter legen – ask for the doctor
- spørre etter sjefen – ask for the boss
- spørre etter veien – ask for directions
In this sentence, spørre etter bankkortet sitt implies the customer is asking if the card is there, where it is, or what has happened to it – basically asking for / after the card.
Three useful patterns:
spørre noen – ask someone
- Jeg skal spørre sjefen. – I’ll ask the boss.
spørre om noe – ask about something (information):
- Hun spurte om åpningstidene. – She asked about the opening hours.
spørre etter noe – ask for / after something (wanting to get or locate it):
- Kunden ringer for å spørre etter bankkortet sitt. – He calls to ask for / after his card.
Yes, etter is primarily “after” in a time or sequence sense:
- etter middag – after dinner
- etter jobben – after work
However, with some verbs, etter has a different, idiomatic meaning more like for / after / in search of:
- lete etter – look for
- Han leter etter nøklene. – He is looking for the keys.
- spørre etter – ask for / ask after
- jakte etter – hunt for
So in spørre etter bankkortet sitt, etter belongs with spørre as a fixed combination: ask for / after the bank card.
Norwegian has a special reflexive possessive (sin / si / sitt / sine) used when the owner is the subject of the same clause.
Here, the subject is kunden (the customer), and the card belongs to that same customer. So we use the reflexive form:
- Kunden ringer banken for å spørre etter bankkortet sitt.
= The customer calls the bank to ask about his/her own bank card.
If we used hans or hennes, it would usually mean that the card belongs to some other male/female person, not the subject:
- Kunden ringer banken for å spørre etter bankkortet hans.
→ The customer calls to ask about his card (someone else’s, some man’s card).
So:
- sitt → refers back to the subject (“their own”)
- hans / hennes → refers to another person (not the subject)
The reflexive possessive agrees with the noun that is owned, not with the person who owns it.
Forms:
- sin – with masculine singular nouns
- si – with feminine singular nouns
- sitt – with neuter singular nouns
- sine – with plural nouns
bankkort is a neuter noun (like et bankkort), so we must use sitt:
- et bankkort → bankkortet sitt
- en bil (m.) → bilen sin
- ei veske (f.) → veska si / vesken sin
- to kort (pl.) → kortene sine
Examples:
- Hun glemte bankkortet sitt. – She forgot her (own) bank card.
- Han solgte bilen sin. – He sold his (own) car.
- De tok med barna sine. – They brought their (own) children.
You could grammatically say:
- Kunden ringer banken for å spørre banken etter bankkortet sitt.
but it sounds clumsy and repetitive in normal Norwegian. Because it is obvious that the customer will ask the bank (the same place he is calling), we don’t repeat banken inside the infinitive clause.
The natural options are:
- Kunden ringer banken for å spørre etter bankkortet sitt. ✅
- Kunden ringer banken og spør etter bankkortet sitt. ✅ (two actions in sequence)
Both clearly mean that, in the phone call, he is asking the bank about his card. The shorter version without the repeated banken is much more idiomatic.