Breakdown of Læreren vil svare på spørsmålet i morgen.
Questions & Answers about Læreren vil svare på spørsmålet i morgen.
Vil is a modal verb that most often corresponds to English will when talking about the future.
In this sentence, vil svare is best understood as will answer (a neutral future meaning). It does not primarily mean wants to answer here, even though vil can mean wants to in other contexts:
- Jeg vil svare på spørsmålet.
= I want to answer the question. (Possible reading, depending on context) - Læreren vil svare på spørsmålet i morgen.
= The teacher will answer the question tomorrow. (Most natural reading)
The intended meaning usually comes from context. With a subject like læreren and a future time expression (i morgen), speakers will interpret vil as will (in the future) rather than wants to.
In Norwegian, the verb svare normally does not take a direct object in the same way as English answer.
You usually say:
- svare på noe = answer something
- svare på spørsmålet = answer the question
- svare på e‑posten = answer the email
So the pattern is: svare på + object.
You can say svare noen (answer someone, a person):
- svare læreren = answer the teacher
- svare ham = answer him
But for things like questions, emails, brev (letters), you normally need på:
- svare på spørsmålet, svare på e‑posten, svare på brevet.
Those are definite endings, similar to the in English.
Norwegian usually puts the at the end of the noun instead of as a separate word:
- lærer = teacher
læreren = the teacher
- spørsmål = question
- spørsmålet = the question
So:
- Læreren vil svare på spørsmålet
literally: Teacher-the will answer on question-the
natural English: The teacher will answer the question.
The difference in the endings (-en vs -et) comes from grammatical gender:
- lærer is a masculine noun → læreren in definite form.
- spørsmål is a neuter noun → spørsmålet in definite form.
Yes, you can move i morgen around, but some positions sound more natural than others.
All of these are grammatical:
Læreren vil svare på spørsmålet i morgen.
(Most natural, neutral word order)I morgen vil læreren svare på spørsmålet.
(Focuses on tomorrow; very common)Læreren vil i morgen svare på spørsmålet.
(Grammatical, but more formal/written style or used for emphasis)
The main rule to remember: in a normal statement, the finite verb (here vil) must come in second position (the V2 rule). So if you start with i morgen, the verb still has to be in second place:
- I morgen vil læreren svare på spørsmålet. ✅
(Time expression – verb – subject – rest)
You cannot say:
- I morgen læreren vil svare på spørsmålet. ❌
There is no separate future tense in Norwegian like in some languages. Instead, future meaning is usually expressed with:
- A modal verb
- infinitive: vil svare, skal svare, kommer til å svare, or
- Just the present tense with a time expression.
So vil is one word (the finite modal verb) and svare is another word (the infinitive form of the main verb). Together, they express a future meaning, but grammatically they remain two separate words:
- vil = will
- svare = answer (infinitive)
After the modal verb vil, you do not use å.
General pattern in Norwegian:
- vil + infinitive without å
- kan + infinitive without å
- må + infinitive without å
- skal + infinitive without å
Examples:
- Jeg vil spise. (not vil å spise)
- Hun kan svømme. (not kan å svømme)
- De må jobbe. (not må å jobbe)
So the correct form is:
- Læreren vil svare på spørsmålet i morgen. ✅
not Læreren vil å svare på spørsmålet i morgen. ❌
You could say:
- Læreren skal svare på spørsmålet i morgen.
Both vil and skal can refer to the future, but they often carry slightly different nuances:
- vil – more neutral future: what will happen, prediction, or intention.
- skal – often implies a plan, arrangement, duty, or something that is decided/obligatory.
In practice:
Læreren vil svare på spørsmålet i morgen.
= The teacher will answer the question tomorrow. (Neutral statement about the future)Læreren skal svare på spørsmålet i morgen.
= The teacher is going to answer the question tomorrow / is supposed to answer it tomorrow.
(Sounds more like a set plan or expectation)
In many everyday contexts, both will be understood similarly, but skal is slightly stronger in the sense of a scheduled or decided action.
Yes, that is perfectly correct:
- Læreren vil svare i morgen.
= The teacher will answer tomorrow.
In that version, it’s clear from context what the teacher will answer (a question, an email, etc.). Norwegian, like English, often omits information that is obvious from the situation or previous sentences.
The original sentence with på spørsmålet simply makes it explicit that it’s the question being answered.
The infinitive is å svare (= to answer).
You use å with the infinitive in many cases:
After verbs like prøve, like, håpe, planlegge, etc.
- Jeg prøver å svare. = I’m trying to answer.
- Hun liker å svare på spørsmål. = She likes to answer questions.
In dictionary form / basic form: å svare.
But after modal verbs (like vil, skal, kan, må), you drop å:
- vil svare
- skal svare
- kan svare
- må svare
So:
- Læreren vil svare på spørsmålet i morgen. ✅
(modal verb vil- infinitive svare without å)
Some key points (for standard Eastern Norwegian):
læreren
- æ – like the vowel in English “cat”, but often a bit longer and clearer.
- r – typically a tapped or trilled r (similar to Spanish r in “pero” for many speakers).
- Final -en – pronounced roughly -en (like “en” in English “end”, but shorter).
Syllables: læ‑rer‑en
spørsmålet
- ø – a rounded front vowel; similar to the vowel in English “bird” (British) or French “peur”, but more fronted.
- å – like “aw” in English “law”.
- Final -et – in many accents, this is pronounced like -e (a short, neutral vowel), and the t is often very weak or silent in everyday speech.
Syllables: spørs‑må‑let (often heard as spørs‑må‑le)