Breakdown of Kurset om livskvalitet har lav deltakeravgift for oss i fagforeningen.
Questions & Answers about Kurset om livskvalitet har lav deltakeravgift for oss i fagforeningen.
Norwegian usually puts the definite ending directly on the noun (kurs → kurset) when you are talking about a specific, identifiable thing.
- Kurset om livskvalitet = the course about quality of life (both speaker and listener know which one).
- Et kurs om livskvalitet = a course about quality of life (any such course, not a specific one).
In context, this sentence most likely refers to a particular course that has already been mentioned, is in a brochure, or is otherwise known, so the definite form kurset is natural.
The preposition om here means about / on (the topic of).
- kurs om livskvalitet = a course about quality of life.
You would not normally use:
- i livskvalitet (in quality of life) – sounds wrong.
- på livskvalitet – could work in some special phrase, but not for the topic of a course.
For topics of books, lectures, courses, conversations, etc., Norwegian very often uses om:
- en bok om klima – a book about climate
- et foredrag om søvn – a lecture about sleep
Norwegian can drop the indefinite article in some places where English keeps it, especially after ha when describing a characteristic or typical feature:
- Kurset har lav deltakeravgift.
Literally: The course has low participation fee.
English needs a here, but Norwegian can omit en in this type of “has + characteristic” sentence.
You could say:
- Kurset har en lav deltakeravgift.
That is grammatically fine, but stylistically the shorter har lav deltakeravgift is very common and sounds natural and neutral.
The verb ha (har) is used because the course has a fee; the fee itself is low.
Two natural ways to phrase it:
Kurset har lav deltakeravgift.
The course has a low participation fee.Deltakeravgiften er lav.
The participation fee is low.
The subject of er lav has to be the thing that is low (the fee), not the course. So Kurset er lav deltakeravgift is ungrammatical.
Deltakeravgift is a compound noun:
- deltaker = participant
- avgift = fee, charge
Together: deltakeravgift = participant fee / participation fee.
Norwegian normally writes such combinations as one word, not two:
- bussbillett (bus ticket), skolebok (school book), kursavgift (course fee).
You might also see kursavgift used with almost the same meaning; deltakeravgift emphasizes that it’s a fee paid by participants.
Livskvalitet is another compound noun:
- liv = life
- kvalitet = quality
- combined with an s-link: livs-
- kvalitet → livskvalitet
It corresponds to English quality of life.
You can say livets kvalitet (literally the life’s quality), but:
- livskvalitet is the standard, fixed term used in health, psychology, public debates, etc.
- livets kvalitet sounds more poetic or philosophical, not like the neutral technical term.
Norwegian, like English, has different pronoun forms for subject and object:
- vi = we (subject form)
- oss = us (object form)
After prepositions, you must use the object form:
- for oss, til oss, med oss (for us, to us, with us)
- for meg, for deg, for ham, etc.
So for vi would be incorrect; for oss is required after for.
Fagforening = trade union / labor union.
Fagforeningen = the trade union (definite form).
The phrase oss i fagforeningen literally means us in the union, but functionally it means:
- those of us who are members of the union.
Using i here is very common Norwegian for membership or belonging to an organization or group:
- oss i klassen – us in the class (the people who are in that class)
- vi i bandet – we in the band (the members of the band)
So for oss i fagforeningen is best understood as for us who are (members) in the union.
With groups like unions, clubs, and organizations, Norwegian very often uses the definite form because it refers to a specific, known organization:
- i fagforeningen – in the (our/the) union
- i klubben – in the club
- i organisasjonen – in the organization
Context normally makes it clear which union is meant (for example, the union at your workplace or the one named elsewhere in the text). Using the indefinite i en fagforening would mean “in a union (any union)”, which is not what is meant here.
Some movement is possible, but the given order is the most neutral.
- Neutral:
- Kurset om livskvalitet har lav deltakeravgift for oss i fagforeningen.
You could say:
- Kurset om livskvalitet har for oss i fagforeningen lav deltakeravgift.
This is grammatically correct, but feels more marked/emphatic, stressing for us in the union.
You cannot move lav after the noun the way English sometimes can:
- lav deltakeravgift is correct.
- deltakeravgift lav is wrong in standard Norwegian.
Adjectives normally come before the noun they modify in Norwegian noun phrases:
- lav pris, stor bil, interessant kurs.
Lav is the base form of the adjective “low”. Its form depends on gender, number, and definiteness:
Indefinite singular, common gender (en-words): lav
- en lav deltakeravgift
Definite singular:
- den lave deltakeravgiften
Plural (indefinite/definite):
- lave deltakeravgifter, de lave deltakeravgiftene
Since deltakeravgift is an en-word in the indefinite singular, the correct form is lav in lav deltakeravgift.