Word
Barna ler høyt i stuen.
Meaning
The children laugh loudly in the living room.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Questions & Answers about Barna ler høyt i stuen.
Why is it Barna and not the children with a separate word for the?
Norwegian usually attaches “the” to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.
- barn = child / children (irregular plural; barn is both singular and plural in the base form)
- barna = the children (definite plural)
So Barna ler… literally looks like “Children-the laugh…”, but in natural English it is “The children are laughing…”
You do not add another article in front (no de barna in this sentence).
Why is it just ler and not er ler to say “are laughing”?
Norwegian doesn’t use a separate “to be” verb to form the present continuous the way English does.
- ler = laugh / is laughing / are laughing (present tense)
- jeg ler = I laugh / I am laughing
- barna ler = the children laugh / the children are laughing
There is no form like er ler; that would be incorrect. A single present-tense verb in Norwegian covers both simple present and present continuous meanings in English, and context decides which English version you use.
Why is it høyt and not høy? What’s the difference?