Breakdown of Hver av oss må lese noen av kapitlene i grammatikkboken før forelesningen.
Questions & Answers about Hver av oss må lese noen av kapitlene i grammatikkboken før forelesningen.
Literally, hver av oss is:
- hver = each / every
- av = of
- oss = us
So it literally means “each of us”, and it is completely natural Norwegian.
You could also say:
- Vi må alle lese … = We all have to read …
- Alle vi må lese … = All of us have to read …
But hver av oss emphasizes each individual person in the group a bit more strongly, like in English.
After a preposition in Norwegian (like av, til, med, for), you must use the object form of the pronoun, not the subject form.
- Subject forms: jeg, du, han, hun, vi, dere, de
- Object forms: meg, deg, ham, henne, oss, dere, dem
So it has to be:
- hver av oss = each of us
not - hver av vi ✗
This is parallel to English: you say each of us, not each of we.
Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule:
the finite verb (here: må) must be the second element in the sentence.
- First element: Hver av oss (counts as one element, even though it has several words)
- Second element: må
- The rest comes afterwards: lese noen av kapitlene i grammatikkboken før forelesningen.
So the structure is:
[Hver av oss] [må] [lese …]
If you changed the topic, the verb would still stay second:
- I morgen må hver av oss lese …
- Før forelesningen må hver av oss lese …
Both må and skal can translate to English have to / shall / will, but they feel different:
- må lese = must / have to read
- expresses necessity, obligation, requirement
- skal lese = shall / am going to read
- expresses plan, arrangement, or duty, often less about strict necessity
In this context, må lese is more natural because it sounds like a requirement before the lecture.
skal lese would sound more like a schedule or plan: Each of us is going to read some of the chapters…
- noen kapitler = some chapters (non‑specific, just an unspecified number of chapters)
- noen av kapitlene = some of the chapters (from a specific, known set of chapters)
In the sentence:
- noen av kapitlene i grammatikkboken
implies that we already know which book and which chapters exist, and we are taking some out of that known set.
If you said:
- Hver av oss må lese noen kapitler i grammatikkboken …
it would be understood, but it’s less explicit that these are from the specific set of chapters in that book.
In Norwegian, when you say “some of the X”, the noun after av usually takes the definite form, because we are talking about a specific, limited set.
Patterns:
- noen av kapitlene = some of the chapters
- noen av studentene = some of the students
- noen av bildene = some of the pictures
So:
- noen kapitler = some chapters (in general)
- noen av kapitlene = some of the chapters (we know which chapters exist)
That’s why kapitlene (definite) is used here.
Here, i literally means “in” and is the standard preposition after lese when you mean read something that is contained in a book:
- lese i boka = read in the book (read parts of it / from inside it)
Compare:
- lese fra boka = read from the book, often out loud, reading a passage aloud to others
- lese av boka is not idiomatic.
So:
- lese noen av kapitlene i grammatikkboken
= read some of the chapters in the grammar book (i.e., these chapters belong to that book).
grammatikkboken is a compound word plus a definite suffix:
- grammatikk = grammar
- bok = book
- grammatikkbok = grammar book
- -en (definite masculine/feminine) → grammatikkboken = the grammar book
In Bokmål, there are two common definite forms for many -bok words:
- grammatikkboken (more traditional / formal)
- grammatikkboka (more colloquial / often preferred in speech)
Both are correct Bokmål.
So you could also say:
- … i grammatikkboka før forelesningen.
Same meaning, slightly more informal / everyday style.
forelesningen is definite singular:
- en forelesning = a lecture
- forelesningen = the lecture
Here, før forelesningen refers to a specific lecture that both speaker and listener know about (for example, tomorrow’s grammar lecture).
If you said:
- før en forelesning = before a lecture (any lecture, not a particular one)
- før forelesning (without article) is usually ungrammatical or sounds wrong in this context.
So før forelesningen = before the lecture (the one we have in mind).
Yes. Two natural alternatives are:
- Vi må alle lese noen av kapitlene i grammatikkboken før forelesningen.
- Alle vi må lese noen av kapitlene i grammatikkboken før forelesningen.
Meaning:
- Both mean roughly: We all have to read some of the chapters in the grammar book before the lecture.
Subtle differences in emphasis:
- Hver av oss må … stresses each individual person’s responsibility.
- Vi må alle … sounds a bit more like the group as a whole has this obligation.
Word order with negation:
- Hver av oss må ikke lese …
(finite verb må is still in second position; ikke comes right after it)
However, meaning is important:
- må ikke in Norwegian usually means must not / is not allowed to, not “doesn’t have to”.
So:
- Hver av oss må ikke lese noen av kapitlene …
sounds like: Each of us must not read any of the chapters … (a prohibition).
To say “don’t have to” / “it’s not necessary to”, you would normally use:
- Hver av oss trenger ikke å lese noen av kapitlene i grammatikkboken før forelesningen.
= Each of us doesn’t need to read any of the chapters before the lecture.
In Norwegian, modal verbs are followed by an infinitive without å:
Common modals:
- kan (can)
- vil (will / want to)
- skal (shall / going to)
- må (must / have to)
- bør (ought to)
Patterns:
- Jeg må lese. (not må å lese)
- Hun kan komme. (not kan å komme)
- Vi skal jobbe. (not skal å jobbe)
So må lese is the correct form.