Breakdown of Jeg drikker for mye kaffe om morgenen.
jeg
I
drikke
to drink
morgenen
the morning
kaffen
the coffee
Questions & Answers about Jeg drikker for mye kaffe om morgenen.
What does for mye literally mean, and is it always translated as too much?
For mye literally means for much. In modern Norwegian, in most contexts it corresponds to English too much, expressing an excessive amount.
- Jeg drikker for mye kaffe. → I drink too much coffee.
- Det er for mye støy her. → There is too much noise here.
You would not normally translate for mye as a lot of; that would usually be mye without for:
- Jeg drikker mye kaffe. → I drink a lot of coffee. (not necessarily a bad thing)
- Jeg drikker for mye kaffe. → I drink too much coffee. (clearly too much)
Why is it for mye kaffe, and not kaffe for mye, like in English coffee too much?
In Norwegian, the normal word order is:
quantity word / amount expression + noun
So you say:
- for mye kaffe (too much coffee)
- mye vann (a lot of water)
- lite sukker (little sugar)
- nok tid (enough time)
Putting for mye after kaffe (kaffe for mye) sounds wrong in this sentence. So:
- Jeg drikker for mye kaffe om morgenen. ✅
- Jeg drikker kaffe for mye om morgenen. ❌ (ungrammatical in this meaning)