Breakdown of Om sommeren bader barna i innsjøen, men om vinteren er årstiden for kald.
Questions & Answers about Om sommeren bader barna i innsjøen, men om vinteren er årstiden for kald.
Norwegian often puts a time expression at the beginning of the sentence to set the scene, just like English can: In the summer, the children….
Grammatically, this is an example of the verb‑second rule (V2) in main clauses:
Neutral order: Barna bader i innsjøen om sommeren.
(Subject first, then verb.)With a time expression first: Om sommeren bader barna i innsjøen.
(Time expression first, then the verb bader, then the subject barna.)
So when you move something (like om sommeren) to the front, the finite verb must still be in second position, and the subject comes after the verb.
They talk about time, but in different ways:
om sommeren
= in (the) summer (generally, every summer / as a rule)
It describes a repeated or habitual situation.i sommer
= this summer (the specific summer we’re in now or the upcoming one, depending on context).
Compare:
Om sommeren bader barna i innsjøen.
In summer (as a habit), the children swim in the lake.I sommer skal barna bade i innsjøen.
This summer (specifically), the children are going to swim in the lake.
Yes, in spoken Norwegian you will also hear:
- på sommeren = in the summer
However:
- om sommeren is very common and often slightly more neutral/“standard”.
- på sommeren is also correct and natural, especially in many dialects.
Both express a general, habitual time frame, not a single specific summer.
The noun barn (child/children) is irregular:
- Indefinite singular: et barn – a child (neuter)
- Definite singular: barnet – the child
- Indefinite plural: barn – children
- Definite plural: barna – the children
So barna already means “the children”.
A form like barnene is simply incorrect in standard Bokmål.
In the sentence, barna is definite because we’re talking about some specific, known children, not just children in general.
The verb å bade literally means to bathe, but in everyday Norwegian it very often means:
- to go swimming (for fun, in a lake, sea, pool, etc.)
So:
- Barna bader i innsjøen.
= The children are swimming in the lake.
If you want to emphasize swimming as a physical activity (like doing laps in a pool), you can use å svømme:
- Barna svømmer fort. – The children swim fast.
But for playing in the water / going for a swim, å bade is the normal verb.
The preposition changes the meaning:
i innsjøen = in the lake (inside the water)
→ This fits with bader (they are actually in the water).på innsjøen = on the lake (on the surface, often with something: a boat, ice skates, etc.)
→ Vi gikk på skøyter på innsjøen. – We skated on the lake.ved innsjøen = by / near the lake (location next to it)
→ Vi spiste lunsj ved innsjøen. – We ate lunch by the lake.
Since the children are swimming, i innsjøen is the natural choice.
innsjøen means “the lake”.
Morphology:
- en innsjø – a lake
- innsjøen – the lake (definite singular)
It’s a compound:
- inn – literally in/inner
- sjø – sea / large body of water
So innsjø is like “inland sea” → lake. In modern Norwegian, innsjø is just the normal word for a lake (especially in written language).
Yes, a very natural alternative would be:
- Om vinteren er det for kaldt.
– In winter, it is too cold.
In your sentence:
- årstiden = the season
- årstiden er for kald = the season is too cold
That’s a bit more literal and slightly bookish; everyday speech would more often use det:
- Om vinteren er det for kaldt (til å bade).
In winter it is too cold (to swim).
So your version is grammatically fine, but det er for kaldt is more idiomatic.
årstid means “season (of the year)”.
Forms:
- Indefinite singular: en/ei årstid – a season
- Definite singular: årstiden – the season
- Indefinite plural: årstider – seasons
- Definite plural: årstidene – the seasons
In the sentence, we are talking about the season we just mentioned implicitly (vinteren), so the definite form is used:
- Om vinteren er årstiden for kald.
→ In winter, the season is too cold.
The little word for here means “too (much)”, not “for” in the English sense.
- for kald = too cold
- veldig kald = very cold (but still maybe acceptable)
- ganske kald = quite cold
So:
- årstiden er for kald
= the season is too cold (it’s more than what is acceptable for whatever activity is in mind, e.g. swimming).
for + adjective expresses that something exceeds a desirable limit:
- for varm – too hot
- for dyrt – too expensive
- for tidlig – too early
This is about adjective agreement.
In årstiden er for kald, the adjective kald refers directly to årstiden:
- årstid is a masculine/feminine noun.
Predicate adjectives agreeing with a masculine/feminine singular noun usually take the base form:
- Bilen er rød. – The car is red.
- Døren er åpen. – The door is open.
- Årstiden er kald. – The season is cold.
We get kaldt when the adjective agrees with a neuter subject or with dummy det:
- Vannet er kaldt. – The water is cold. (neuter noun vann)
- Det er kaldt. – It is cold. (dummy det, neuter)
So:
- Årstiden er for kald. – correct (agrees with årstiden)
- Det er for kaldt. – also correct, but then det is the subject instead of årstiden.
In Norwegian, men is a coordinating conjunction meaning “but”, and it normally takes a comma before it when it connects two clauses:
- Om sommeren bader barna i innsjøen, men om vinteren er årstiden for kald.
Each side could stand as a sentence on its own:
- Om sommeren bader barna i innsjøen.
- Om vinteren er årstiden for kald.
Because they’re joined by men, we put a comma before men, similar to English:
- …the children swim in the lake, but in winter the season is too cold.