Læreren skriver nye læringsmål i ukeplanen for matte og grammatikk.

The teacher writes new learning goals in the weekly plan for math and grammar.

Breakdown of Læreren skriver nye læringsmål i ukeplanen for matte og grammatikk.

• i: in
• skrive: to write
• og: and
• ny: new
• for: for
• læreren: the teacher
• læringsmålet: the learning goal
• ukeplanen: the weekly plan
• matten: the math
• grammatikken: the grammar

Questions & Answers about Læreren skriver nye læringsmål i ukeplanen for matte og grammatikk.

What is the difference between lærer and læreren?

Lærer means teacher in general (indefinite form: a teacher).

Læreren is the definite form and means the teacher.

In Bokmål, most masculine nouns use:

• en lærer = a teacher
• læreren = the teacher

So the sentence starts with Læreren because it’s talking about a specific teacher that speaker and listener both know about.

Why is there no article in nye læringsmål? Why not de nye læringsmålene or noen nye læringsmål?

Nye læringsmål here is indefinite plural, which normally has no article in Norwegian:

• nye læringsmål = new learning goals (in general, some new goals)
• de nye læringsmålene = the new learning goals (specific ones)
• noen nye læringsmål = some new learning goals

In the sentence, the focus is that the teacher is writing some new goals, not a particular, previously identified set. That’s why we just get nye læringsmål with no article.

Why is it nye and not ny in nye læringsmål?

Ny means new, and it changes form depending on gender and number:

• en ny lærer = a new teacher (masc./fem. singular)
• et nytt mål = a new goal (neuter singular)
• nye lærere / nye mål / nye læringsmål = new teachers / new goals / new learning goals (plural)

Since læringsmål is plural in the sentence, the adjective has to be nye (plural form), not ny.

How can læringsmål be plural if it doesn’t look plural? Shouldn’t there be an -er or something?

This is a bit tricky. Læringsmål is a compound:

• læring = learning
• mål = goal, objective
  → læringsmål = learning goal / learning objective

The base noun mål is one of those nouns that has the same form in singular and plural in indefinite form:

• et mål = a goal
• mål = goals

Because of that, the compound læringsmål also looks the same in singular and indefinite plural:

• et læringsmål = a learning goal
• læringsmål = learning goals

In the sentence, we know it’s plural because of the adjective nye (plural), and also from context: it makes more sense that the teacher writes several goals, not just one.

What tense is skriver? Does it mean “writes” or “is writing”?

Skriver is the present tense of å skrive (to write).

Norwegian present tense usually covers both English present simple and present continuous:

• Læreren skriver nye læringsmål …
  • The teacher writes new learning goals …
  • The teacher is writing new learning goals …

Which English translation you choose depends on context, but in Norwegian you just use skriver for both.

Why is the verb skriver in the second position? Could we say Læreren nye læringsmål skriver …?

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule (verb-second), similar to German:

• The finite verb (here: skriver) must be in second position in the sentence.

  In our sentence:

  1. Læreren (subject – first element)
  2. skriver (finite verb – second element)
  3. nye læringsmål i ukeplanen for matte og grammatikk (rest of the sentence)

So Læreren nye læringsmål skriver … is not grammatical. The verb must come right after the first element.

Why is it i ukeplanen and not på ukeplanen?

Both i and på can sometimes be translated as in/on, but they are not interchangeable.

• i ukeplanen literally: in the weekly plan
  → Think of the plan as a document or framework where things are written inside it.
• på planen literally: on the plan
  → Often used more physically (written on a sheet/poster) or in slightly different contexts.

In school language, ukeplan (weekly plan given to students/parents) is usually talked about with i:

• stå i ukeplanen = be in the weekly plan
• skrive i ukeplanen = write in the weekly plan

So i ukeplanen is the standard collocation here.

Why is it ukeplanen and not en ukeplan?

Ukeplanen is the definite form:

• en ukeplan = a weekly plan
• ukeplanen = the weekly plan

In many Norwegian schools, ukeplanen refers to a specific, known weekly plan for the class (often a document or sheet sent home). Because it’s something the teacher, students and parents all know about, it naturally takes the definite form ukeplanen.

What exactly is ukeplanen? Is it just “weekly plan” or a special school term?

Literally, ukeplanen = the weekly plan (uke = week, plan = plan).

In Norwegian school context, ukeplanen is a fairly specific concept:

• a weekly schedule/overview for a class
• often shows subjects, homework, learning goals, tests, etc., for the coming week
• typically given to students (and parents) in primary/lower secondary school

So while “weekly plan” is correct as a translation, it often refers to this particular type of school document.

What does matte mean, and is it informal compared to matematikk?

Yes, matte is the informal/colloquial word for mathematics:

• matematikk = mathematics (formal, used in textbooks, exam titles, etc.)
• matte = math (everyday spoken language, very common in schools)

In a sentence about a school weekly plan, matte sounds completely natural, because that’s what students and teachers usually say in conversation.

What is the function of for in for matte og grammatikk? Does it apply to both subjects?

Here, for means for, for the subject of:

• i ukeplanen for matte og grammatikk
  = in the weekly plan for math and grammar

Yes, for applies to both matte and grammatikk:

• It’s one weekly plan that covers both subjects, or one section of the plan that is for those two subjects together.

You could paraphrase:

• i ukeplanen, når det gjelder matte og grammatikk
  = in the weekly plan, as far as math and grammar are concerned

Can we change the word order, for example: Læreren skriver i ukeplanen nye læringsmål for matte og grammatikk?

Yes, you can move some of the phrases around without changing the core meaning, as long as the verb skriver stays in second position.

Some natural variants:

• Læreren skriver nye læringsmål i ukeplanen for matte og grammatikk. (original)
• Læreren skriver nye læringsmål for matte og grammatikk i ukeplanen.
  (slight emphasis on which subjects the goals are for)
• I ukeplanen for matte og grammatikk skriver læreren nye læringsmål.
  (fronting i ukeplanen … for emphasis; still V2: skriver is second element)

But:

• Læreren i ukeplanen skriver nye læringsmål …
  sounds like “The teacher in the weekly plan writes new goals …”, which is odd.
  So you can rearrange, but you must keep natural groupings and the V2 rule.

What genders do these nouns have, and how does that affect the forms we see?

In Bokmål, the relevant nouns here are usually:

• en lærer (m.) → læreren (the teacher)
• et mål (n.) → målet / mål (goal / goals)
• et læringsmål (n.) → læringsmålet / læringsmål (learning goal / learning goals)
• en ukeplan (m./f., typically treated as masculine) → ukeplanen
• en grammatikk (m.) → grammatikken
• en/ei matte (feminine; often used with ei in speech, but en matte is also accepted in Bokmål)

The main effects you see in this sentence:

• læreren ends in -en because lærer is treated as masculine.
• ukeplanen ends in -en because ukeplan is treated as masculine here.
• nye is the plural adjective form agreeing with læringsmål (even though the noun itself doesn’t change form in plural).