Breakdown of Jeg skriver noen stikkord i notatblokken for å ha noe klart å si i neste diskusjon.
Questions & Answers about Jeg skriver noen stikkord i notatblokken for å ha noe klart å si i neste diskusjon.
Stikkord literally means something like “cue words” / “keywords”. In practice, it’s:
- Short words or phrases you jot down to remind yourself what to say later
- Similar to bullet points or brief notes for a presentation, meeting, or discussion
It’s not full sentences or detailed notes; it’s more like headwords, key points, prompts. So “some stikkord” is “some key points / cue words I’m writing down.”
Noen is used with countable plural nouns, roughly like “some / a few” in English.
- stikkord here is plural: some keywords / some cue words
- So you use noen stikkord = some/ a few keywords
Contrast:
- noe vann = some water (uncountable)
- noen glass vann = some glasses of water (countable plural)
So noen stikkord is correct because you are thinking of several individual “cue words.”
Several things are happening here:
Compound word:
- notatblokk = notepad / notebook (lit. “note pad”)
- notatbok is also possible and means almost the same thing (note(book)).
Definite form:
- notatblokken = the notepad / the notebook
- Using the definite (“the”) implies a specific notebook that both speaker and listener can identify (e.g., my usual notebook).
Indefinite alternative:
- i en notatblokk = in a (random) notebook
- That would be correct grammar, but it sounds less specific.
So i notatblokken suggests: in the (particular) notebook I use, not just any notebook.
In Norwegian, i and på can both translate to “in/on,” but they’re used differently:
- i notatblokken = in the notebook (inside it, on its pages)
- på notatblokken would usually be interpreted more literally as “on the surface of the notebook” (on the cover), which isn’t what you mean when writing notes.
For writing in a notebook / book / document, you typically use i:
- i boka – in the book
- i margen – in the margin
- i notatblokken – in the notebook
for å + infinitive expresses purpose, like English “in order to”:
- for å ha noe klart å si
= in order to have something ready to say
If you only said å ha noe klart å si, it would just be an infinitive phrase (“to have something ready to say”), but it wouldn’t clearly express purpose.
So:
- Jeg skriver … for å ha …
= I write … in order to have … (this is why I’m writing)
The structure is:
- noe – “something” (neuter, indefinite pronoun)
- klart – adjective “klar” in neuter singular form, agreeing with noe
- å si – infinitive “to say”
So noe klart å si literally is:
- something ready to say / something clear/ready to say
It’s like the English pattern “something nice to eat,” “something interesting to read,” but with agreement:
- noe klart å si – neuter singular
- en klar ting å si – common gender singular
- klare ting å si – plural
Because noe is neuter singular, the adjective takes the neuter form klart.
Adjectives in Norwegian agree in gender and number with the noun/pronoun they describe.
- noe is neuter singular (like something as a neuter thing)
- The adjective “klar” in neuter form is klart
- So: noe klart is “something ready/clear” (neuter singular)
Compare:
- en klar idé – a clear idea (common gender singular)
- et klart svar – a clear answer (neuter singular)
- klare ideer – clear ideas (plural)
Since we have noe, we must use klart.
No, noe å si klart is not natural Norwegian in this context.
- noe klart å si means “something ready to say” (clear/ready content)
- å si klart would mean “to say clearly,” describing how you say it, not what you have prepared.
If you really wanted to say “say it clearly,” you would phrase it differently, for example:
- for å kunne si det klart – in order to be able to say it clearly
But with the original meaning (having prepared content), noe klart å si is the idiomatic form.
Yes, you can say:
- Jeg skriver ned noen stikkord i notatblokken …
Difference:
- skrive alone can mean “write,” and in context it already implies writing them down.
- skrive ned = “write down,” “jot down,” and makes it explicit that you are putting them on paper (or in a digital note).
Both are correct. Skriver ned sounds a bit more like deliberate note-taking or jotting things down.
Both are possible, but they have slightly different nuances:
- i neste diskusjon – literally “in the next discussion,” often understood as “when we have the next discussion / during the next discussion.”
- under neste diskusjon – literally “during the next discussion,” slightly more explicit about the time frame.
The original sentence uses i neste diskusjon, which is completely idiomatic and natural. If you said under neste diskusjon, the meaning would stay essentially the same, just with a slightly stronger focus on the time period.
With words like neste (“next”), Norwegian often omits the article:
- neste uke – next week
- neste gang – next time
- neste diskusjon – next discussion
You can say i den neste diskusjonen, but that:
- Sounds more specific and contrastive: in the next discussion (as opposed to some other one)
- Is more formal or emphatic
In most everyday contexts, i neste diskusjon is the normal, neutral way to say “in the next discussion.”
The present tense skriver refers to what is happening now:
- Jeg skriver noen stikkord … – I’m writing some keywords now
The future element is in the purpose clause:
- … for å ha noe klart å si i neste diskusjon.
– in order to have something ready to say in the next discussion (which is in the future)
Norwegian doesn’t need a special future form here; it’s:
- Present for the current action: skriver
- A purpose that points to a future situation: i neste diskusjon
Yes, you could say:
- Jeg skriver noen stikkord i notatblokken for at jeg skal ha noe klart å si i neste diskusjon.
Differences:
for å + infinitive:
- More compact, very common
- Subject is understood to be the same as in the main clause (here: jeg)
- for å ha noe klart å si is natural and neutral.
for at + clause:
- Explicitly introduces a subordinate clause with its own subject and verb
- Often used when:
- The subject is different from the main clause, or
- You want to be more formal/explicit.
In this sentence, both forms are grammatical, but for å ha noe klart å si is shorter and more typical in everyday speech.