Questions & Answers about Jeg gjør yoga hjemme om kvelden.
Why do we use gjør with yoga? Could I say Jeg trener yoga or Jeg praktiserer yoga?
In Norwegian, the most natural everyday way to say you do yoga is å gjøre yoga (literally: to do yoga).
- Jeg gjør yoga = I do yoga.
This is what people actually say in daily speech.
Alternatives:
Jeg trener yoga – understood, but sounds a bit odd. trener is more for sports/exercise in general:
- Jeg trener fotball. – I practice football.
- Jeg trener på treningssenter. – I work out at the gym.
Jeg praktiserer yoga – correct, but sounds formal/technical, like talking about a discipline or spiritual practice.
So for normal conversation, stick with Jeg gjør yoga.
Why is there no article before yoga? Why not jeg gjør en yoga?
Yoga is treated as an uncountable activity here, like sport, trening (exercise), or lekser (homework).
In Norwegian you normally do not use an article with activities:
- Jeg gjør yoga. – I do yoga.
- Jeg spiller fotball. – I play football.
- Jeg gjør lekser. – I do homework.
Using en/ei/et would sound like you are talking about a single instance of a countable object, which is not how yoga is used here. So jeg gjør en yoga is incorrect in this context.