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Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Hvem ringer deg i kveld? - Who will call you tonight?

Hardcore Norwegian
/Lesson 65
/Hvem ringer deg i kveld?

Hvem ringer deg i kveld?

Word

Hvem ringer deg i kveld?

Meaning

Who will call you tonight?

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Norwegian

Lesson

Breakdown of Hvem ringer deg i kveld?

Questions & Answers about Hvem ringer deg i kveld?

Why is hvem at the beginning of the sentence?

Because hvem means who and is the question word here. In Norwegian, question words usually come first in a question:

Hvem = who
Hva = what
Hvor = where
Når = when

So Hvem ringer deg i kveld? follows the normal pattern for a wh-question.

Why is it ringer and not something like skal ringe if the call happens tonight?

Norwegian often uses the present tense to talk about the near future, especially when the time is already clear from the context.

So:

Hvem ringer deg i kveld? = Who is calling / will call you tonight?

Because i kveld already tells you the action is in the future, ringer is enough.
You could also say Hvem skal ringe deg i kveld?, but that can sound a bit more like who is supposed to call you tonight or who will be calling you tonight.

Why is it deg and not du?

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Because deg is the object form of du.

du = you, as the subject
deg = you, as the object

In this sentence, someone is doing the action of calling, and you are receiving the action. That makes you the object.

Compare:

Du ringer. = You are calling.
Hun ringer deg. = She is calling you.

So Hvem ringer deg i kveld? needs deg, not du.

Does ringe normally take a direct object in Norwegian? Why isn’t there a word like to before deg?

Yes, in Norwegian ringe can directly take a person as its object:

Jeg ringer deg. = I’m calling you.

This is more direct than English, where learners may expect something like call to you. Norwegian usually does not need til here when you mean phone someone.

You may also hear:

ringe til noen

but ringe noen is very common and natural. So ringer deg is completely normal Norwegian.

Does ringer mean calls, is calling, or will call?

It can mean all of those, depending on context.

In Norwegian, the present tense often covers:

habitual action: Han ringer ofte. = He calls often.
action happening now: Han ringer nå. = He is calling now.
near future: Han ringer i kveld. = He will call tonight.

In Hvem ringer deg i kveld?, the phrase i kveld makes the future meaning clear.

What exactly does i kveld mean?

I kveld means this evening or tonight.

It is made up of:

i = in / at
kveld = evening

As a time expression, i kveld is very common and idiomatic. Similar expressions include:

i dag = today
i morgen = tomorrow
i natt = tonight / during the night

So Hvem ringer deg i kveld? is literally something like Who calls you this evening?, but naturally it means Who is calling/will call you tonight?

Why is the word order Hvem ringer deg i kveld? and not Hvem deg ringer i kveld?

Because Norwegian keeps the normal verb position after the question word in this kind of sentence.

The basic structure is:

question word + verb + object + time expression

So:

Hvem = question word
ringer = verb
deg = object
i kveld = time expression

That gives:

Hvem ringer deg i kveld?

Putting deg before ringer would sound ungrammatical in standard Norwegian.

Is hvem the subject or the object in this sentence?

In this sentence, hvem is the subject.

The person being asked about is the one doing the calling:

Hvem ringer deg i kveld? = Who is calling you tonight?

You can see this because deg is the object, and ringer agrees with the person doing the action.

If who were the object, the sentence structure would be different, for example:

Hvem ringer du i kveld? = Who are you calling tonight?

There, du is the subject and hvem is the object.

Can this sentence be phrased in another natural way?

Yes. A common alternative is:

Hvem er det som ringer deg i kveld?

This is a bit longer and can sound slightly more conversational or emphatic. It literally includes who is it that...

But the original sentence:

Hvem ringer deg i kveld?

is perfectly natural and simpler.

How is Hvem ringer deg i kveld? pronounced?

A rough guide is:

hvem RING-er dai i KVELD

A few useful points:

hvem: the hv- is usually pronounced with a regular v sound in modern Norwegian, so it often sounds close to vem
ringer: the g is not strongly pronounced like in English finger; the word sounds smoother
deg: in many dialects, this can sound closer to dai, though pronunciation varies
kveld: the stress is on the second word in the phrase i kveld, especially on kveld

Exact pronunciation depends on dialect, but that rough version will help you recognize it.

Would this sentence sound formal, informal, or neutral?

It sounds neutral and very natural in everyday Norwegian.

Nothing in the sentence is especially formal or especially casual. You could use it in normal conversation without any problem.

The only thing that may vary by dialect or style is pronunciation, not the grammar of the sentence itself.

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