Breakdown of Barn kan bli sjalu eller misunnelige når søsken får mer oppmerksomhet.
Questions & Answers about Barn kan bli sjalu eller misunnelige når søsken får mer oppmerksomhet.
In Norwegian, a bare plural subject like Barn often means “children in general” (a general statement).
- Barn = children (in general)
- Barna = the children (specific group)
- Et barn = a (single) child
The sentence is talking about what can happen to children in general, so the bare plural Barn is the most natural choice.
The base form barn can be either singular or plural, depending on context:
- et barn = one child
- flere barn = several children
In this sentence, we know barn is plural because the adjective misunnelige is in the plural form, and the meaning is clearly about children in general.
Kan bli literally means “can become”. It expresses possibility or tendency: children can become jealous (in that situation), not that they always are jealous.
If you said Barn er sjalu, it would sound like a very strong, general claim: “Children are jealous” (as a permanent trait), which is not what the sentence wants to say.
Both relate to jealousy/envy, but there is a nuance:
- sjalu = jealous (often used about relationships or fear of losing someone/something you already have)
- misunnelig = envious (wanting what someone else has)
In practice, many Norwegians use sjalu and misunnelig somewhat loosely, and they often appear together, as in this sentence, to cover both shades of meaning.
Misunnelig is a regular adjective that changes form with number:
- singular: misunnelig
- plural: misunnelige
Because the subject Barn is plural, the adjective must also be plural: misunnelige.
Sjalu, on the other hand, is an indeclinable adjective in modern Norwegian: it normally stays the same in singular and plural, so you just say sjalu for both.
Når is used for repeated / general situations and also for “when” in the present or future:
- Barn kan bli sjalu når … = Children can become jealous when(ever) …
Da is used for one specific time in the past, like a single event in a story.
Here we’re talking about what typically happens, not telling a past story, so når is correct.
Søsken is a collective noun meaning “sibling / siblings”. Grammatically it’s neuter:
- et søsken = a sibling
- to søsken = two siblings
In practice, søsken is often used in a plural sense, like “siblings” in English. In this sentence it refers generically to siblings (other children in the family).
The verb få means “to get / receive”, so får mer oppmerksomhet means “get more attention”. This mirrors natural English:
- English: when siblings *get more attention*
- Norwegian: når søsken får mer oppmerksomhet
Using har (have) would sound odd here, because the idea is about receiving attention from others.
Oppmerksomhet means “attention” and, like in English, it is normally uncountable. You don’t say “one attention, two attentions”; you just say mye oppmerksomhet (a lot of attention), mer oppmerksomhet (more attention).
It’s treated as a mass noun, so you don’t usually put an article on it.
Mer is the comparative form of mye (much/a lot) and stor (large) when talking about amount/quantity of something uncountable:
- mye oppmerksomhet = much/a lot of attention
- mer oppmerksomhet = more attention
Flere is used with countable items (more things/people):
- flere barn = more children
So with oppmerksomhet (uncountable), mer is the correct choice.
In Norwegian, main clauses usually have verb-second word order (V2), but subordinate clauses (introduced by words like når, fordi, at) do not.
- Main clause: Søsken får mer oppmerksomhet. (V2: verb in second position)
- Subordinate clause: når søsken får mer oppmerksomhet (subject before verb)
Because this is a subordinate clause introduced by når, the natural order is subject (søsken) + verb (får), not får søsken.