Breakdown of Et dårlig inntrykk kan være vanskelig å endre, men hun gir alltid et rolig inntrykk.
Questions & Answers about Et dårlig inntrykk kan være vanskelig å endre, men hun gir alltid et rolig inntrykk.
Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender. The indefinite singular articles are:
- en – masculine (and many common-gender nouns)
- ei – feminine (often interchangeable with en in Bokmål)
- et – neuter
Inntrykk is a neuter noun, so its indefinite singular form is et inntrykk.
Some forms of the noun:
- et inntrykk – a(n) impression
- inntrykket – the impression
- flere inntrykk – several impressions
- inntrykkene – the impressions
Many Norwegian adjectives have the same form for masculine, feminine, and neuter in the singular. Dårlig is one of them.
Pattern for dårlig:
- Singular (m/f/n): en dårlig idé, ei dårlig bok, et dårlig inntrykk
- Plural / definite: dårlige ideer, den dårlige boken, de dårlige inntrykkene
Compare with an adjective that does add -t in the neuter:
- en stor bil – a big car
- et stort hus – a big house
- store biler / hus – big cars / houses
So dårlig simply belongs to the group of adjectives without a special neuter -t form. The same pattern appears with rolig in et rolig inntrykk.
The phrase corresponds closely to English can be difficult to change and is built in pieces:
- kan – modal verb (can)
- være – bare infinitive (be)
- vanskelig – adjective (difficult)
- å endre – infinitive phrase (to change)
So the basic pattern is:
subject + kan + infinitive verb + adjective + å + infinitive
In this sentence:
- Subject: Et dårlig inntrykk
- Modal + infinitive: kan være
- Adjective: vanskelig
- Infinitive phrase: å endre
Norwegian keeps this order; you cannot move vanskelig or å endre around freely inside this chunk.
Å is the infinitive marker, like to in English to change.
General rules:
- After a modal verb (kan, vil, må, skal, bør, får, pleier), the next verb is a bare infinitive without å:
- kan være, skal gjøre, må gå
- When the verb is not directly governed by a modal, it normally takes å in the infinitive:
- å endre, å spise, å forstå
In kan være vanskelig å endre:
- kan governs være, so we say kan være (no å)
- endre is part of the construction vanskelig å + infinitive, not directly after a modal, so it needs å: å endre
Norwegian distinguishes two common expressions with inntrykk:
å gi (et) inntrykk (av noe)
- Literally: to give an impression (of something)
- Used like English give an impression or create an impression
- Example: Hun gir et rolig inntrykk.
She gives a calm impression / She comes across as calm.
å gjøre inntrykk (på noen)
- Literally: to make an impression (on someone)
- Used when something impresses or affects someone strongly
- Example: Forestillingen gjorde stort inntrykk på ham.
The performance made a strong impression on him.
So:
- Describing how someone comes across: use gi (et) [type] inntrykk
- Describing that something impresses or affects someone: use gjøre inntrykk (på noen)
That is why hun gir alltid et rolig inntrykk is natural, and hun gjør alltid et rolig inntrykk is not.
Rolig covers several English nuances, depending on context:
- calm, composed (personality or mood)
- relaxed, not stressed
- quiet, not noisy (sometimes)
- peaceful, not hectic
In et rolig inntrykk about a person, it mainly means:
- She seems calm and composed
- She does not appear stressed, agitated, or dramatic
- Her overall demeanor feels steady and relaxed
If you want to focus on silence or lack of sound, you would more likely use stille (quiet) rather than rolig:
- et stille rom – a quiet room
- rolig musikk – calm/relaxing music (not aggressive)
In a normal main clause, Norwegian has verb‑second word order:
- First element (often the subject)
- The finite verb
- The rest (objects, adverbs, etc.)
In this clause:
- Subject: hun
- Finite verb: gir
- Adverb and object: alltid et rolig inntrykk
Typical placement of alltid (and many other adverbs) is right after the finite verb:
- Hun gir alltid et rolig inntrykk.
- Jeg spiser vanligvis frokost.
Alternative orders:
- Alltid gir hun et rolig inntrykk. – possible, but marked for emphasis (putting focus on always)
- Hun alltid gir et rolig inntrykk. – ungrammatical in standard Norwegian
Yes, inntrykk can be used both as a countable and in a more abstract way, similar to English.
Countable use:
- et inntrykk – an impression
- to sterke inntrykk – two strong impressions
- mange inntrykk – many impressions
More abstract / mass-like uses:
- Jeg fikk inntrykk av at hun var sliten.
I got the impression that she was tired.
The sentence et dårlig inntrykk clearly uses the countable meaning: a specific impression someone has made.
Men is a coordinating conjunction meaning but. Norwegian punctuation rules normally require a comma before men when it joins two main clauses:
- Et dårlig inntrykk kan være vanskelig å endre, men hun gir alltid et rolig inntrykk.
Clause 1: Et dårlig inntrykk kan være vanskelig å endre
Clause 2: hun gir alltid et rolig inntrykk
Since both sides of men are full clauses with their own subject and verb, the comma is standard.
Yes, that is grammatically correct, but the meaning is slightly different:
- er vanskelig å endre – is difficult to change
- Sounds more absolute and general, almost like a rule.
- kan være vanskelig å endre – can be difficult to change
- Leaves room for exceptions; sometimes it is, sometimes it might not be.
The original kan være sounds a bit softer and more nuanced.
Both endre and endre på exist, but they have slightly different usage:
endre noe (without på)
- more neutral and often a bit more formal
- can suggest a clearer or more thorough change
- fits well in general statements:
- Det er vanskelig å endre vaner.
endre (litt) på noe
- more colloquial
- often suggests adjusting or tweaking something rather than fully changing it
- example:
- Vi kan endre litt på planen.
We can tweak the plan a bit.
- Vi kan endre litt på planen.
In Et dårlig inntrykk kan være vanskelig å endre, the more neutral endre suits the general statement.
…vanskelig å endre på would also be understood and is not wrong, but it sounds a bit more informal and slightly more like “hard to do anything about.”