Questions & Answers about Hun har vondt i pannen i dag.
Norwegian uses the fixed expression å ha vondt i + body part to say that something hurts.
- Hun har vondt i pannen. = Her forehead hurts / She has pain in her forehead.
- Literally: She has pain in the forehead.
You do not say:
- ✗ Hun er vondt i pannen. (wrong – vondt is not used with er like this)
- ✗ Hun er vond i pannen. (would sound like she is “evil” in her forehead…)
You can also say:
- Det gjør vondt i pannen. = It hurts in (my/her) forehead.
But whenever you mention a body part directly, har vondt i is the standard idiom.
In Norwegian, when it is clear whose body part we are talking about (usually the subject’s), you normally omit the possessive:
- Hun har vondt i pannen. = Her forehead hurts.
- Jeg har vondt i hodet. = My head hurts.
- Han brakk armen. = He broke his arm.
You only add the possessive if you need to contrast or emphasize ownership:
- Hun har vondt i sin panne, ikke i kjæresten sin.
- Legen så på hånden hennes. (the doctor looked at her hand, not someone else’s)
So i pannen alone is the natural way to say in her forehead here.
Body parts are usually referred to in the definite form in Norwegian when they belong to the (obvious) person we’re talking about:
- pannen = the forehead
- hodet = the head
- armen = the arm
So:
- Hun har vondt i pannen. = She has pain in the forehead → her forehead.
- Saying Hun har vondt i en panne would literally be “She has pain in a forehead” and sounds wrong.
This is parallel to many other typical sentences:
- Han brakk beinet. = He broke his leg.
- Jeg pusser tennene. = I brush (the) teeth. (= my teeth)
With ha vondt + body part, the usual preposition is i:
- ha vondt i hodet / magen / ryggen / kneet / foten / pannen
So:
- Hun har vondt i pannen. is the standard phrasing.
På can be used when you’re talking about something on the surface of the body, like a rash or wound:
- Hun har et sår på pannen. = She has a wound on her forehead.
- Jeg har et utslett på armen. = I have a rash on my arm.
So:
- Pain inside or in the area → i pannen
- Something located on the surface → usually på pannen
Pannen = the forehead (specific part).
Hodet = the entire head (more general).
Compare:
- Hun har vondt i hodet. = She has a headache / her head hurts.
- Hun har vondt i pannen. = Her forehead hurts (more localized).
If you mean a typical “headache” in general, hodet or hodepine is more common:
- Hun har hodepine i dag. = She has a headache today.
- Hun har vondt i hodet i dag.
i pannen sounds like the pain is specifically in the forehead area.
In Bokmål, panne is a common gender noun (can be treated as masculine or feminine):
- indefinite: en panne (or ei panne)
- definite: pannen (or panna)
In most standard Bokmål teaching materials you’ll see:
- en panne – pannen
So pannen here is the definite singular: the forehead.
In some dialects or in Nynorsk you will more often see ei panne – panna.
Here har is simply the present tense of the verb å ha (to have).
The structure is:
- Hun (she)
- har (has)
- vondt i pannen (pain in the forehead)
It is not a perfect tense (like “has done”), it’s just:
- å ha = to have → hun har = she has
You could, but it sounds unnatural in everyday Norwegian.
- smerte = pain (noun), but is more formal/medical and often used in the plural or in set expressions:
- Hun har sterke smerter. = She is in severe pain.
- Smerten sitter i brystet.
For normal, spoken language about everyday pain, Norwegians almost always say:
- Hun har vondt i pannen.
- Jeg har vondt i magen.
So for a learner, stick to har vondt i + body part.
Yes. Both are correct, with slightly different emphasis:
- Hun har vondt i pannen i dag.
→ Neutral, everyday word order. - I dag har hun vondt i pannen.
→ Emphasizes today (as opposed to yesterday, usually).
Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the verb must be the second element in the sentence. So when you move i dag to the front, the verb still stays second:
- I dag (1st element) har (2nd) hun vondt i pannen.
It is written as two words: i dag.
Historically it comes from “in (this) day”, and it has remained two words in modern spelling. Many learners want to write idag, but in standard Bokmål and Nynorsk the correct form is:
- i dag = today
- i morgen = tomorrow (in the morning/day after today)
You may see idag informally (for example online), but it’s not standard.
Approximate pronunciation (standard Eastern Norwegian):
- vondt: /vʊnt/
- The d is silent.
- It sounds very similar to vont.
- pannen: /ˈpɑnːən/
- Double n gives a long n-sound (nn).
- Stress on the first syllable: PAN-nen.
So the whole sentence is roughly:
- Hun har vondt i pannen i dag.
≈ Hoon har vont i PAN-nen i da:g
Yes, that is grammatically correct:
- Pannen hennes gjør vondt i dag. = Her forehead hurts today.
But it’s less natural in everyday speech than:
- Hun har vondt i pannen i dag.
The ha vondt i construction is the default.
You would usually use [body part] + gjør vondt in sentences like:
- Det gjør vondt i pannen. = It hurts in my/her forehead.
- Kneet mitt gjør vondt. = My knee hurts.
But even there, Jeg har vondt i kneet is more common.
Yes, panne can mean both:
- forehead
- (frying) pan / skillet
Context removes the confusion:
- Hun har vondt i pannen. = Her forehead hurts.
- Stek fisken i pannen. = Fry the fish in the pan.
In speech, the meaning is clear from context; Norwegians don’t get these mixed up.