Breakdown of Vi finner en ledig parkeringsplass bak huset.
Questions & Answers about Vi finner en ledig parkeringsplass bak huset.
Norwegian does not use å være (to be) + -ing form the way English does.
- Vi finner = We find / We are finding
- Norwegian simple present covers both English simple present and present continuous.
So:
- Vi finner en ledig parkeringsplass bak huset.
= We find / We are finding a free parking space behind the house.
You would not say vi er finner; that is ungrammatical.
In Norwegian, countable singular nouns almost always need an article (indefinite or definite).
- en parkeringsplass = a parking space (indefinite, singular)
- parkeringsplassen = the parking space (definite, singular)
If you mean one specific space, you must say en parkeringsplass.
If you leave out the article: Vi finner ledig parkeringsplass — it sounds incomplete or wrong in normal Norwegian.
Norwegian does not usually use a bare singular noun here the way English can with “parking.”
Norwegian has three grammatical genders:
- en = masculine
- ei = feminine (often interchangeable with en in Bokmål)
- et = neuter
Parkeringsplass is masculine, so:
- en parkeringsplass (a parking space)
- parkeringsplassen (the parking space)
You cannot say et parkeringsplass; that would be wrong gender.
The normal word order for adjective + noun in the indefinite form is:
article + adjective + noun
So here:
- en ledig parkeringsplass = a free/available parking space
Other examples:
- en rød bil = a red car
- et stort hus = a big house
Adjectives go before the noun (like in English), not after it, in this structure.
In this sentence, ledig means available / not occupied.
- en ledig parkeringsplass = a free/available spot (nobody is parked there)
If you want to say that parking costs nothing (no fee), you would typically use gratis:
- gratis parkering = free (no-cost) parking
Yes, parkeringsplass is a compound noun:
- parkering = parking
- plass = place/space
Combined: parkeringsplass = parking space / parking spot.
Norwegian very often links nouns together into one compound word instead of writing them as two separate words. Writing it as parkerings plass would be a spelling mistake.
- hus = house (indefinite, singular)
- et hus = a house
- huset = the house (definite, singular)
Bak huset literally means “behind the house”, referring to a specific house already known from context.
You could say:
- bak et hus = behind a house (some unspecified house)
But bak hus (without an article or definite ending) is not normal in this context. You usually need either et (a) or -et (the).
Hus is a neuter noun:
- Indefinite: et hus
- Definite singular: huset
- Indefinite plural: hus (same form)
- Definite plural: husene
Masculine and feminine nouns often take -en or -a in the definite singular, but neuter nouns like hus take -et.
So: bak huset = behind the house.
The clause follows standard Norwegian main-clause word order:
- Subject: Vi (we)
- Verb: finner (find/are finding)
- Object: en ledig parkeringsplass (a free parking space)
- Adverbial (place): bak huset (behind the house)
So: Subject – Verb – Object – (Place)
Norwegian main clauses normally put the finite verb in second position (V2 rule). Here, the subject is first, so the verb comes right after it.
Yes, that is perfectly correct and quite natural.
- Bak huset finner vi en ledig parkeringsplass.
Here, bak huset (place) is moved to the front for emphasis or style. Because of the V2 rule, the verb finner must still be in second position, so vi moves after the verb.
Both sentences mean the same:
- Vi finner en ledig parkeringsplass bak huset.
- Bak huset finner vi en ledig parkeringsplass.
Approximate pronunciation (Bokmål, standard Eastern accent):
- vi ≈ “vee”
- finner ≈ “FIN-ner”
- i like the ee in see
- double nn = a short, clear n sound
- en ≈ “en” (short e, like in end but a bit tenser)
- ledig ≈ “LEH-dig” (the g at the end is often softened, almost like “LEH-di”)
- parkeringsplass ≈ “par-KER-ings-plass”
- stress mostly on -KER-
- plass like English plus but with a as in father, and a clear ss
Native accents vary, but this will be understood everywhere.
You can say:
- Vi finner parkering bak huset.
This means roughly “We find parking behind the house” in a more general sense (there is somewhere to park).
Differences:
- en ledig parkeringsplass = a specific empty spot
- parkering = parking in general (area/possibility to park)
So the original sentence is a bit more concrete: it focuses on one particular free space.
Finner is present tense of the verb å finne (to find).
Key forms:
- Infinitive: å finne = to find
- Present: finner = find / am finding
- Past (preterite): fant = found
- Present perfect: har funnet = have found
- Future (with skal): skal finne = will find / am going to find
Examples:
- Vi fant en ledig parkeringsplass. = We found a free parking space.
- Vi skal finne en ledig parkeringsplass. = We will find a free parking space.
Yes, adjectives in Norwegian agree with the noun in gender/number and in definiteness.
Here, the noun phrase is indefinite, singular, masculine:
- en ledig parkeringsplass
Patterns for ledig:
- Masculine/feminine, indefinite singular: ledig
- en ledig jobb (a vacant job)
- Neuter, indefinite singular: ledigt
- et ledigt rom (a vacant room)
- Plural (all genders), indefinite: ledige
- mange ledige plasser (many free seats)
- Definite (all genders, singular and plural): ledige
- den ledige parkeringsplassen (the free parking space)
- de ledige parkeringsplassene (the free parking spaces)
So ledig matches en … plass in gender and form here.