Questions & Answers about Jeg legger merke til at du er trøtt.
What does legger merke til actually mean? It does not look like the English verb notice.
Å legge merke til is a fixed Norwegian expression meaning to notice, to observe, or to take note of.
You should learn it as a whole chunk:
- å legge merke til noe = to notice something
- å legge merke til at ... = to notice that ...
Even though the individual words have other meanings, the expression as a whole is idiomatic. So it is better not to translate it word for word.
Why is til placed after merke? Is it part of the verb?
Yes. Til belongs to the fixed expression å legge merke til.
A good way to think about it is like an English phrasal verb:
- look at
- find out
- notice does not work this way in English, but legge merke til does in Norwegian.
So in this sentence:
- Jeg legger merke til at du er trøtt
the til is not optional. It is part of the expression.
Why is it merke and not et merke or merket?