Breakdown of På plakaten står det at regissøren ønsker frivillige til å dele ut programmer til publikum.
Questions & Answers about På plakaten står det at regissøren ønsker frivillige til å dele ut programmer til publikum.
Norwegian often puts information about where/when something happens at the very beginning of the sentence. This is called fronting.
- Det står på plakaten at … – perfectly correct.
- På plakaten står det at … – also correct, but now på plakaten is emphasized as the topic: “On the poster, it says that …”
So the writer chose to highlight the poster as the place where the information is found. Both word orders are grammatical; it is mainly a stylistic choice.
Here det is a dummy (expletive) subject, similar to “it” in English sentences like “It says on the poster that …”.
- Norwegian needs a grammatical subject in most finite clauses.
- Because the sentence begins with På plakaten, that is not the grammatical subject.
- So Norwegian inserts the dummy det:
På plakaten står det at …
det here does not refer to any concrete thing; it is just filling the subject slot.
The preposition på is used for things that are on a surface or written/printed on something:
- på plakaten – on the poster
- på tavla – on the board
- på veggen – on the wall
- på skjermen – on the screen
i means in/inside, and would normally be wrong here; the text is not inside the poster, it is on it.
Norwegian uses a suffix to show definiteness instead of a separate word like “the”:
- en plakat – a poster (indefinite singular)
- plakaten – the poster (definite singular)
In this sentence, we are talking about a specific, known poster, so the definite form plakaten is used: På plakaten … – On the poster …
regissør means director (film, theatre, etc.).
Norwegian again uses a suffix for the definite form:
- en regissør – a director
- regissøren – the director
So regissøren means the director (a specific one mentioned or understood from context).
ønsker can mean both “wants” and “wishes”, depending on context.
In this sentence:
- regissøren ønsker frivillige = the director wants volunteers
This is a practical request, so “wants” is the best translation here.
Some comparisons:
- Jeg ønsker kaffe. – I want coffee. (polite / a bit formal)
- Jeg vil ha kaffe. – I want (to have) coffee. (more direct)
- Jeg ønsker deg lykke til. – I wish you good luck.
Here it is closer to “would like to have” volunteers.
frivillig can be both an adjective and a noun:
- Adjective: frivillig arbeid – voluntary work
- Noun: en frivillig – a volunteer
In this sentence, frivillige is a plural noun:
- en frivillig – a volunteer
- frivillige – volunteers
So regissøren ønsker frivillige means the director wants volunteers (people).
Yes, it corresponds closely to English “wants volunteers to …”:
- regissøren ønsker frivillige til å dele ut programmer
= the director wants volunteers to hand out programs
Pattern:
- ønsker [someone] til å [do something]
The til å + infinitive part shows the purpose: what the volunteers are needed for.
Both can occur, but they have different typical uses.
- å dele ut – plain infinitive: to hand out
- til å dele ut – til + å + infinitive: often expresses purpose or function: for handing out / to hand out
Here we are saying what the volunteers are for:
- frivillige til å dele ut programmer
= volunteers for handing out programs / volunteers to hand out programs
Without til, it would sound more like just describing an action, not the purpose of the volunteers. So til å is natural and idiomatic here.
dele ut is a particle verb (similar to English phrasal verbs):
- dele – to share, divide
- dele en kake – divide/share a cake
- dele ut – to distribute / hand out
- dele ut programmer – hand out programs
The particle ut adds the meaning of “outwards, to several people”, turning “divide/share” into “distribute/hand out”.
You conjugate only the main verb:
- jeg deler ut
- jeg delte ut
- jeg har delt ut
In Norwegian, program has several meanings, just like English “program”:
- a schedule or plan
- a TV/radio program
- a printed programme for a concert, play, etc.
- a computer program
Here, from context (dele ut programmer til publikum), programmer clearly means printed programs/leaflets (like theatre or concert programs) that are given to the audience.
Grammar:
- et program – a program
- programmer – programs (indefinite plural)
publikum is a collective noun, meaning the audience or the public as a group.
In this kind of generic use:
- publikum – the audience (no article needed)
- You normally say til publikum – to the audience
You could say publikummet in some very specific contexts, but for “hand out programs to the audience”, the natural expression is til publikum without a definite ending.
Yes. at introduces a subordinate clause (a that-clause). In subordinate clauses, Norwegian does not use the usual main-clause verb-second (V2) rule.
- Main clause: Regissøren ønsker frivillige.
(Subject regissøren- verb ønsker)
- Subordinate clause: at regissøren ønsker frivillige …
So inside the at-clause, the normal order is:
- [at] + subject + verb + rest of the sentence
You would not say *at ønsker regissøren frivillige; that would be incorrect.
In English you can often omit “that”:
- “It says on the poster (that) the director wants volunteers.”
In Norwegian, at in this kind of clause is normally not dropped:
- På plakaten står det at regissøren ønsker … – correct
- *På plakaten står det regissøren ønsker … – sounds wrong/unnatural
So in Norwegian, keep at in written and standard spoken language in sentences like this.