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  5. "The boy cannot show the girl…

"The boy cannot show the girl the turtle."

Translation:Gutten kan ikke vise jenta skilpadda.

June 13, 2015



How do we distinguish direct and indirect objects?


Just as in English, unless the indirect object immediately follows the lexical verb it must have a preposition. So in this case, you can let "jenta" and "skilpadda" switch places if you give "jenta" a preposition: "Gutten kan ikke vise skilpadda til jenta".


Thanks, that makes sense. I figured that it was very similar to English in that sense, I just wanted to make sure that this wasn't just a more "English-ish" version of the structure used for Anglophone learners, and that there wasn't a better or more proper way of structuring it.


So no datives? Wow, this is much easier than German for English speakers.

Maybe we really should be classed as a North Germanic rather than West Germanic language.


It wasn't always the same, for both English and Norwegian. Just take a look at the grammar of Norse and Ænglisc


Historicaly, the root for the English language comes from "North German", which is Anglo-Frisian basically. These guys migrated to Brittain, the Normen later took over and brought Norse (grammar), and later the Normen from Normandie France brought French (vocabulary). There is a strong basis to claim that English is more North-Germanic than West-Germanic, I guess.


With word order. Indirect objects are most often placed in front of direct objects. In this sentence, 'jenta'. You can also distinguish them based on meaning, because the indirect object is usually the one that gets something (good or bad) from the one acting (subject). If you ask "to who/what is it that "insert sentence", then you'll probably find the indirect object. (To who is it that the boy cannot show the turtle? -> The girl)


I was wondering how to phrase this and kept thinking "there MUST be a preposition here somewhere".

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