Breakdown of Samfunnsfagtimen starter klokken ni.
starte
to start
klokken
the clock
ni
nine
samfunnsfagtimen
the social studies class
Questions & Answers about Samfunnsfagtimen starter klokken ni.
What does the long word Samfunnsfagtimen literally mean, and how is it built up?
Samfunnsfagtimen literally means “the social studies lesson/class (period)”.
It’s a compound made of several parts:
- samfunn = society
- a linking s
- fag = subject (school subject, academic field)
→ samfunnsfag = social studies (school subject) - time = hour / lesson / class period
→ samfunnsfagtime = a social studies lesson - -en = the (definite article, masculine)
→ samfunnsfagtimen = the social studies lesson / class
So the whole sentence is: “The social studies class starts at nine o’clock.”
Why is Samfunnsfagtimen written as one long word instead of several separate words?
Norwegian normally writes compound nouns as one word, not as separate words like English does.
- English: social studies class
- Norwegian: samfunnsfagtimen
Other examples:
- ice cream → iskrem
- bus driver → bussjåfør
- English lesson → engelsktime(n)
If you split samfunnsfagtimen into spaces (samfunns fag timen), it looks wrong or changes the meaning. You might occasionally see a hyphen to make long words easier to read (e.g. samfunnsfag-timen), but as one word is the normal spelling.
Why does Samfunnsfagtimen end in -en?