Jeg vil gratulere deg.

I

Breakdown of Jeg vil gratulere deg.

• deg: you
• vil: want
• gratulere: to congratulate

Questions & Answers about Jeg vil gratulere deg.

Why is the sentence Jeg vil gratulere deg and not Jeg vil å gratulere deg?

Because after a modal verb like vil, Norwegian normally uses the bare infinitive, without å.

• jeg vil gratulere deg = correct
• jeg vil å gratulere deg = incorrect

This is similar to English I want to congratulate you, where you do use to, but Norwegian does not use å after modal verbs such as:

• vil = want to / will
• kan = can
• skal = shall / will / am going to
• må = must

So:

• Jeg vil gratulere deg
• Jeg kan hjelpe deg
• Jeg må gå

What does vil mean here?

Vil can mean different things depending on context:

• want to
• will or a future sense

In Jeg vil gratulere deg, it often means I want to congratulate you, especially in a speech, message, or formal situation.

But in some contexts, it can also sound like I will congratulate you. Native speakers usually understand the intended meaning from context.

So vil is a flexible word, and that is something English speakers often need time to get used to.