Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt.

I put the cloth on my leg.

Breakdown of Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt.

• jeg: I
• på: on
• legge: to put
• mitt: my
• kluten: the cloth
• beinet: the leg

Questions & Answers about Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt.

Why is it legger and not another verb like setter or putter?

Norwegian has several verbs that can all translate as “put” in English, but they’re used in different situations:

• legge – to lay something down (typically so it ends up in a lying / horizontal position)
  
  • Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt. = I put/lay the cloth on my leg.
• sette – to set/put something so it ends up in a standing / upright position
  
  • Jeg setter koppen på bordet. = I put the cup on the table.
• stille – to place/stand something carefully (often upright, often about clocks, objects)
• putte – to put/pop something (often into something, more informal; a bit like “stick/put in”)
  
  • Jeg putter nøkkelen i lomma. = I put the key in my pocket.

Because a cloth is typically thought of as lying flat, legger is the natural verb here. Using setter or putter would sound odd in this exact sentence.

What verb is legger from, and what are its forms?

Legger is the present tense of the verb å legge (to lay / to put down).

The main forms:

• Infinitive: å legge
• Present: legger – Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt.
• Past: la – I går la jeg kluten på beinet mitt.
• Past participle: lagt – Jeg har lagt kluten på beinet mitt.

This is a strong/irregular verb: the vowel changes from e to a (legge → la → lagt).

What’s the difference between legger and ligger? Could I say Jeg ligger kluten på beinet mitt?

You cannot say Jeg ligger kluten … here; that’s ungrammatical.

• å legge = to lay something (you actively place it there)
  
  • Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt.
  • Needs an object (the thing being laid down), so it’s transitive.
• å ligge = to lie / be located (already in a position)
  
  • Kluten ligger på beinet mitt. = The cloth is lying on my leg.
  • No object; it’s intransitive.

Think of English:

• I lay the cloth on my leg (I legger kluten …)
• The cloth lies on my leg (Kluten ligger …)

Why is it kluten and not en klut or just klut?

Norwegian marks definiteness on the noun itself:

• en klut = a cloth (indefinite)
• kluten = the cloth (definite)
• klut alone usually only appears as the base form you’d see in a dictionary.

In Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt, we’re talking about a specific cloth that both speaker and listener presumably know about, so the definite form kluten (“the cloth”) is used, not en klut (“a cloth”).

What gender is klut, and what are its main forms?

Klut is a masculine noun in Bokmål.

Common forms:

• Indefinite singular: en klut – a cloth
• Definite singular: kluten – the cloth
• Indefinite plural: kluter – cloths
• Definite plural: klutene – the cloths

In some dialects or styles, you might see kluten treated as common gender (with ei klut), but en klut / kluten is the standard in most learning materials.

Why is the preposition på used here? Could you say i beinet mitt or something else?

På is the standard preposition for on (on a surface), and that’s exactly the meaning here:

• på beinet mitt = on my leg

Alternatives would change the meaning:

• i beinet mitt = in my leg / inside the leg (sounds like it’s going into the flesh or the bone)
• over beinet mitt = over/above my leg (not necessarily touching it)

So for normal physical contact on the surface of the leg, på is the natural choice.

Why is it beinet mitt and not mitt bein?

Both are grammatically correct:

• beinet mitt – literally “the leg my”
• mitt bein – “my leg”

The difference is in word order and style:

1. Postposed possessive (beinet mitt)

   • Definite ending on the noun (bein → beinet)
   • Possessive after the noun (mitt)
   • Feels neutral, everyday, and is very common, especially in spoken Norwegian.

2. Preposed possessive (mitt bein)

   • Possessive before the noun
   • Noun usually in indefinite form (bein, not beinet)
   • Can sound a bit more emphatic or contrastive (“my leg, not somebody else’s”).

So:

• Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt. – normal, neutral way to say it.
• Jeg legger kluten på mitt bein. – also correct, but sounds more marked/emphatic: on my leg (and not on yours/the other one).

Why do we have both a definite ending -et and the possessive mitt in beinet mitt? Isn’t that “double definite”?

Yes, it’s an example of double definiteness, which is normal in Norwegian when the possessive comes after the noun.

Patterns:

• Preposed possessive: mitt bein
  
  • No definite ending on the noun.
• Postposed possessive: beinet mitt
  
  • Noun gets the definite ending (-et) and
  • the possessive mitt follows.

So you either say:

• mitt bein (my leg)
  or
• beinet mitt (the leg of mine / my leg),

but not ~mitt beinet.

This “double” marking is simply how Norwegian noun phrases with postposed possessives work.

Do you actually need mitt here? Can you just say Jeg legger kluten på beinet?

You can say:

• Jeg legger kluten på beinet.

and in many contexts that will naturally be understood as “I put the cloth on my leg”, especially if the subject is clearly “I” and we’re talking about my own body.

In Norwegian, for body parts, it’s common to use just the definite form without a possessive:

• Jeg vasker hendene. = I wash my hands.
• Han brakk armen. = He broke his arm.

So:

• på beinet = on the leg (often understood as on my leg if the subject is jeg and context is clear)
• på beinet mitt = clearly on my leg and a bit more explicit/emphatic, especially if you want to contrast it with someone else’s leg.

Both are correct; beinet alone is very natural in everyday speech.

Does bein mean “leg” or “bone” in Norwegian? Is på beinet mitt ambiguous?

Bein can mean both:

• leg
• bone

Context decides which one is meant:

• Jeg brakk beinet.
  
  • Often: I broke my leg, but literally it’s a bone.
• Hun har lange bein.
  
  • Clearly “legs”.

In Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt, everyday interpretation will be “on my leg” (the body part). If you really wanted to specify “bone”, you’d usually mention which bone or use more medical language or context to make that obvious.

Why is it mitt and not min or mine?

Norwegian possessives agree with the gender and number of the noun they modify, not with the owner.

For jeg (I), the possessives are:

• min – for masculine/feminine singular nouns
  
  • min bil (my car), min bok (my book)
• mitt – for neuter singular nouns
  
  • mitt hus (my house), mitt bein (my leg)
• mine – for plural nouns
  
  • mine bøker (my books), mine bein (my legs)

Bein is neuter (et bein), so the correct form is mitt:

• beinet mitt = my leg
  not ~beinet min or ~beinet mine.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Jeg legger på beinet mitt kluten?

The natural word order here is:

• Jeg legger kluten på beinet mitt.
  
  • Subject (Jeg) – Verb (legger) – Object (kluten) – Place (på beinet mitt)

Jeg legger på beinet mitt kluten is wrong word order in standard Norwegian.

If you want to move the place phrase for emphasis, you must still follow the V2 rule (the finite verb is the second element in main clauses):

• På beinet mitt legger jeg kluten.
  
  • 1st element: På beinet mitt (a prepositional phrase)
  • 2nd element: legger (the verb)
  • Then: jeg kluten

That sounds a bit more formal/emphatic, but it is correct. The original sentence is the most neutral.

Could the sentence be interpreted as “I put my leg on the cloth” instead of “I put the cloth on my leg”?

No, not with this word order and these forms.

• kluten is in the object position right after the verb:
  
  • Jeg legger kluten … → I put the cloth …
• på beinet mitt is a prepositional phrase telling you where the cloth is placed.

If you wanted to say “I put my leg on the cloth,” you would have to swap the roles:

• Jeg legger beinet mitt på kluten.

So the sentence as given can only mean that the cloth is being put on your leg, not the other way around.