Jeg vil rutsje ned bakken en gang til.

I want to slide down the hill one more time.

Breakdown of Jeg vil rutsje ned bakken en gang til.

• jeg: I
• en gang til: one more time
• bakken: the hill
• ville: want
• rutsje ned: to slide down

Questions & Answers about Jeg vil rutsje ned bakken en gang til.

Why is it vil rutsje and not vil å rutsje?

In Norwegian, modal verbs (like vil, skal, kan, må, bør) are normally followed directly by the infinitive without å.

• Correct: Jeg vil rutsje.
• Incorrect: Jeg vil å rutsje.

So the pattern is:
subject + modal verb + bare infinitive
→ Jeg vil rutsje …

If you use a non‑modal verb, you usually need å before the infinitive, e.g.
Jeg liker å rutsje. (I like to slide.)

What exactly does vil mean here – is it want to or will?

In this sentence, vil means want to, not will in the sense of a neutral future.

• Jeg vil rutsje ned bakken en gang til.
  = I want to slide down the hill one more time.

Norwegian usually doesn’t use vil just to form a neutral future like English will. Instead it uses:

• presens (present tense):
  I morgen rutsjer jeg ned bakken.
• or skal for planned/decided future:
  Jeg skal rutsje ned bakken i morgen.

So vil + infinitive normally expresses desire or willingness.

Could I say Jeg skal rutsje ned bakken en gang til instead of Jeg vil …?

You can, but the meaning changes slightly:

• Jeg vil rutsje …
  → Focus on your wish or desire: I want to.
• Jeg skal rutsje …
  → Sounds more like a plan, a decision, or sometimes a promise/threat: I’m going to / I shall.

In a child‑like context (I want to slide down again!), vil is more natural. Skal can sound like you’ve already decided or arranged it.

What does rutsje mean, and is it different from skli or ake?

Rutsje means to slide, usually in a playful or slippery way:

• sliding down a playground slide
• sliding down a snowy hill (without necessarily having a sled)
• slipping along something smooth

Related verbs:

• skli – to slip, slide unintentionally or because of slipperiness
  
  • Jeg skled på isen. (I slipped on the ice.)
• ake – to sled / go sledding (with a sled)
  
  • Barna aker i bakken. (The children are sledding on the hill.)

In the sentence, rutsje ned bakken is like go sliding down the hill (often playful, like on sleds or similar), a bit more child‑like/informal than skli.

Why is it ned bakken and not nede bakken?

Norwegian distinguishes between direction (movement) and location (position):

• ned = down(wards) (movement)
• nede = down / down there (static position)

You are moving down the hill, so you need the directional form ned:

• Jeg vil rutsje ned bakken.
  = I want to slide down the hill.

If you were already at the bottom and talking about where you are, you might use nede:

• Jeg står nede i bakken.
  = I’m standing down in the hill/slope.

Why is it bakken and not bakke or en bakke?

Bakke is a masculine noun:

• en bakke = a hill/slope (indefinite singular)
• bakken = the hill/slope (definite singular)

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun:

• English: the hill
• Norwegian: bakken

So ned bakken = down the hill (a specific hill that both speaker and listener know about – for example the hill they are currently on).

Ned en bakke (= down a hill) is grammatically correct but would usually be used if you’re talking about some hill, not a known, concrete one.

Why is the word order rutsje ned bakken and not rutsje bakken ned?

The normal, natural order here is:

• verb (rutsje) + directional adverb (ned) + object (bakken)
  → rutsje ned bakken

Ned goes before the noun phrase it belongs with (bakken).

Rutsje bakken ned is understandable but sounds unnatural or poetic; everyday speech almost always uses rutsje ned bakken.

Pattern to remember:
[verb] + [direction word] + [thing you move along/over/into]

• gå opp trappa – walk up the stairs
• løpe ned veien – run down the road
• hoppe over gjerdet – jump over the fence

What does en gang til literally mean, and how does it compare to igjen?

Literally:

• en = one
• gang = time (as in “once, twice, three times”)
• til = more / additionally

So en gang til literally means one time more → one more time / once more / again.

Comparison with igjen:

• en gang til – “one more time”, emphasizes a single additional repetition.
  
  • Kan vi gjøre det en gang til? – Can we do it one more time?
• igjen – “again”, more general, could be once or many times.
  
  • Kan vi gjøre det igjen? – Can we do it again?

In this sentence, en gang til fits nicely because the speaker wants one more go down the hill. …ned bakken igjen is also possible, but a bit more neutral and slightly less “one last time” in feel.

Can I use igjen instead of en gang til here?

Yes:

• Jeg vil rutsje ned bakken igjen.

This is correct and natural. The nuance:

• en gang til – clear focus on one more time (typical for kids insisting on another turn)
• igjen – again in a more general sense; it doesn’t explicitly say “one more time”, just that the action is repeated.

In everyday speech, both versions would be understood almost the same, but en gang til sounds a bit more like a specific extra round.

Why is it en gang til and not en gangen til?

Because gang here is used in the indefinite singular to mean time/occurrence:

• en gang – one time / once
• gangen – the time (definite), OR “the hallway”

In the expression en gang til, gang stays indefinite:

• en gang til – literally “one time more”

En gangen til would be ungrammatical in this fixed expression and also confusing, because gangen can mean “the hallway”.

Why is the subject jeg necessary? In English we might just say “Want to go again!” in casual speech.

Norwegian almost always requires an explicit subject in full sentences, even when English can drop it:

• English (very informal): Want to go again!
• Natural Norwegian: Jeg vil rutsje ned bakken en gang til.

Leaving out jeg here (Vil rutsje ned bakken en gang til.) sounds incomplete or like a note fragment, not normal spoken Norwegian.

Dropping the subject is only natural in some very restricted patterns (e.g. in imperatives: Rutsj ned bakken en gang til! – “Slide down the hill one more time!”), but not with jeg vil.

What is the grammatical form of rutsje here?

Rutsje is the infinitive form of the verb:

• Infinitive: å rutsje (to slide)
• Present: rutsjer (slides / is sliding)
• Past: rutsjet
• Past participle: har rutsjet

After a modal verb like vil, Norwegian uses the bare infinitive, without å:

• Jeg vil rutsje. – I want to slide.
• Jeg kan rutsje. – I can slide.

How would the word order change if I start with En gang til?

Norwegian has the V2 rule (the finite verb must be in second position in main clauses). If you move en gang til to the front, you must still keep vil in second position:

• En gang til vil jeg rutsje ned bakken.

Structure:

1. En gang til (fronted adverbial)
2. vil (finite verb)
3. jeg (subject)
4. rest of the sentence

This sounds slightly more emphatic or stylistic than the original, but it’s grammatically correct.

How do you pronounce jeg and rutsje in this sentence?

Approximate standard pronunciation (Bokmål‑like):

• jeg – often /jæi/ or /jæ/ in everyday speech.
• rutsje – roughly /ˈrʉtʂə/:
  • r – trilled or tapped
  • u – like the vowel in French tu or German ü (a fronted u)
  • tsj – like ch in chair
  • final e – a short, unstressed -uh sound

So the whole sentence might sound roughly like:
/jæi vil ˈrʉtʂə neːd ˈbɑkːən en gɑŋ til/ (simplified).