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I dag ringer banken og spør om jeg vil ha et lån.

I dag ringer banken og spør om jeg vil ha et lån.
Today the bank calls and asks if I want a loan.
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Questions & Answers about I dag ringer banken og spør om jeg vil ha et lån.

Why is I dag at the beginning, and why does the verb come right after it?

Norwegian follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb must be in the second position. When you front something like I dag (a time adverbial), the verb still has to be second, so you get:

  • I dag (1st) + ringer (2nd) + banken (then the subject) If you didn’t front anything, a neutral order would be:
  • Banken ringer i dag og spør ...
Is ringer present tense? Does it mean “is calling” or “calls”?

Yes, ringer is present tense of å ringe (to call/ring). Norwegian present tense often covers both:

  • “calls”
  • “is calling”
  • “will call (in some contexts)” So I dag ringer banken ... can be understood as “Today the bank calls/is calling ...” depending on context.
Why is it banken (definite form “the bank”) and not en bank?
Banken is the definite singular form of bank: en bank (a bank) → banken (the bank). In Norwegian you commonly use the definite form when you mean a specific known entity (e.g., your bank, or a particular bank already established in context). Using en bank would sound like “some bank (unspecified)”.
In English you’d say “the bank calls me.” Where is “me” in the Norwegian sentence?

Norwegian often doesn’t mention the object if it’s obvious from context. ringer banken can imply “the bank calls (me/us)” without saying it. If you want to be explicit, you can add it:

  • I dag ringer banken meg og spør ... = “Today the bank calls me and asks ...”
Why does it say ringer banken and not banken ringer?

Because I dag is placed first. With V2 word order, the verb comes second, and the subject (banken) moves after the verb:

  • I dag ringer banken ... But if the subject comes first, you get:
  • Banken ringer i dag ...
Why is it og spør (present tense) instead of something like “and asks” with a different form?

Norwegian uses the same present tense form for both verbs, coordinated with og:

  • ringer (calls) og spør (and asks) This is just like English: “calls and asks.”
Why is it spør om and not just spør?

Both exist, but they’re used differently:

  • spør
    • direct question / object: De spør meg (They ask me), De spør hva jeg vil (They ask what I want)
  • spør om
    • a clause or a topic meaning “ask whether/if”: De spør om jeg vil ... (They ask if/whether I want ...) So spør om jeg vil ha et lån corresponds to “asks if I want a loan.”
Why is there no word like English “to” (as in “asks me to…”), and no extra marker before jeg vil?

Because the structure here is not “ask someone to do something.” It’s “ask whether…” followed by a subordinate clause:

  • spør om + [clause] So om already introduces the clause, and you don’t add anything like English “to.”
Does word order change in the clause om jeg vil ha et lån?

Yes. After om, you have a subordinate clause, which normally keeps the order:

  • subject + verb: jeg vil So you get om jeg vil ... (not om vil jeg ...).
    Also, if you add certain adverbs (like ikke), they typically come before the main verb in subordinate clauses:
  • ... spør om jeg ikke vil ha et lån = “... asks if I don’t want a loan”
What exactly does vil ha mean here?

vil is the present of å ville (to want / will), and ha is “have.” Together, vil ha is a very common way to say want:

  • jeg vil ha kaffe = “I want coffee” So jeg vil ha et lån = “I want a loan” (literally “want to have a loan”).
Why is it et lån and not en lån?

Because lån is a neuter noun in Norwegian, so it uses:

  • et lån (a loan) The indefinite article agrees with gender: en (common gender) vs et (neuter).
Could it be lånet instead of et lån?

Yes, depending on meaning:

  • et lån = “a loan” (any/one loan, new information)
  • lånet = “the loan” (a specific loan already known/mentioned) In a sales-call situation, et lån is natural because it’s being introduced as an offer.
Is I dag one word (idag) or two (i dag)?
Standard Norwegian spelling is i dag (two words). idag sometimes appears informally, but i dag is what you should learn and use in formal writing.
Is this Bokmål or Nynorsk? Would it look different in Nynorsk?

This sentence is Bokmål (and also very close to what many people say). In Nynorsk, a common equivalent would be:

  • I dag ringer banken og spør om eg vil ha eit lån. Key differences: jeg → eg, et → eit.