Sector primario

You would often ask people to pass you things at table, as it is a common custom in Norway to help yourself to the food on the table.

Although it can be used in much the same informal way as the English 'cheers', the Norwegian word skål also has its more ritual uses. At dinner it is customary never to drink wine before the host has raised his glass and said skål. At the same dinner - or at a lunch as in the text above - individual participants may well raise their glasses and toast each other with a skål.

At the end of the meal: Jeg er mett.

Jeg kan ikke spise/drikke mer.

85 Det var en nydelig/deilig middag.

Takk for maten. (lit: 'Thank you for food'.) Vel bekomme (lit: 'May it do you good'.)

Note 1: mett means 'full', and it is perfectly good Norwegian to say Jeg er mett, while many English speakers would prefer to say: T v e had sufficient' or T v e had enough'.

Strangely enough T v e had enough' translated literally into the Norwegian Jeg har fått nok can easily be perceived as meaning that you certainly don't want any more of that stuff!

And although full means 'full', you should never say Jeg er full, which simply means Tm drunk'!

Note 2: A foreigner may find the phrases Takk for maten and Vel bekomme a little odd, but their use has also become a sort of ritual and they are widely used, also within the family. Everyone but the host or hostess says Takk for maten at the end of the meal, and the host or hostess replies with Vel bekomme.

Reading text

Eating out in Norway

Det har alltid vært nokså dyrt å spise ute i Norge, men nå er det mulig å finne både billige og koselige steder, særlig i Oslo og de andre store byene.

Ute på landsbygda er det ikke så mange restauranter, men også her kan du være heldig å finne koselige veikroer og kaféer. Gatekjøkkener hvor man kan kjøpe hamburgere, pizzaer, pølser og annen hurtigmat er særlig populære blant de unge.

Vin og brennevin kan du ikke kjøpe i vanlige butikker eller supermarkeder. Det må du kjøpe på Vinmonopolet, og du må huske på å kjøpe med deg noen flasker når du er i en by, for det finnes ikke Vinmonopol ute på landsbygda!

Avgiftene på øl, vin og brennevin er veldig høye i Norge, og det har aldri vært noen stor tradisjon å gå ut å drikke.

I det hele tatt går nordmennene ikke så mye på restaurant som engelskmennene. De spiser nesten alltid hjemme og inviterer ofte gjester hjem til et måltid.

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Vocabulary

rather possible nice, cosy inn street cafe, kiosk sausage, hot dog fast food wine brennevin (-et) flaske (en/ei, -r) Vinmonopol (et,-)

avgift (en/ei, -er) i det hele tatt gjest (en, -er) måltid (et, -er)

spirits bottle State Wine Monopoly tax on the whole, in general visitor meal

Language points

Det as a formal subject

1 Formal subject: There is a fly in my soup. Real subject: There is a fly in my soup.

Det as a formal subject corresponds to 'there' + a form of 'to be' in

English:

Det er mange koselige There are many nice restaurants restauranter i Oslo. in Oslo.

Det finnes ikke Vinmonopol There is no Wine Monopoly out ute på landsbygda. in the countryside.

Note 1: there is no agreement between this det and the noun, pronoun or phrase it identifies.

Note 2: while English only combines 'there' with the verb 'to be', Norwegian regularly uses det with other verbs:

Det kommer et tog klokken A train arrives at five. fem.

Det kjørte en bil forbi. A car drove past.

2 Formal subject: It is a eat!

Real subject: It is expensive to eat out.

Det is also used as a formal subject very much in the same way as 'it'

(or 'that') is, in English:

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(a) Where there is no real subject:

Det er kaldt. It is cold. Det er ikke langt. It is not far. Det snør. It is snowing.

Det går bedre. Things are going better.

Note: any adjective referring to det must appear in the t-form. (b) In sentences where the real subject is an infinitive:

Det er dyrt å spise ute. It is expensive to eat out.

Nå er det mulig å finne Now it is possible to find cheap

billige steder. places.

(c) In sentences where the real subject is a subordinate clause:

Det er sant at det er dyrt å spise ute i Norge.

It is true that it is expensive to eat out in Norway.

(d) Where you want to refer back to part of or the whole of a previous sentence:

Vin og brennevin kan du ikke ... Det må du kjøpe ...

Wine and liquor you cannot... This you must buy . . .

Exercise 1

Put these sentences in the correct order: 1 Vi spiser forretten. 2 Vi bestiller maten. 3 Vi spiser desserten. 4 Vi ser på menyen. 5 Vi betaler rekningen. 6 Vi går inn i restauranten.

7 Vi gir drikkepenger til servitøren. 8 Vi går ut av restauranten.

9 Vi ber om rekningen. 10 Vi spiser hovedretten. 11 Vi setter oss ned. 12 Vi finner et bord.

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Dialogue (33

A rather tired couple are driving home without lights in the dusk on a late summer evening

PAMELA: Tør du virkelig kjøre slik?

HÅKON: Hvordan da? Hva mener du? PAMELA: D U bør tenne lysene.

HÅKON: Er det deg eller meg som kjører?

PAMELA: Pass på! Der er en katt!

HÅKON: Jeg har sett den!

PAMELA: Jeg tør nesten ikke si noe mer!

PAMELA: Dåre you really drive like that?

HÅKON: Like what? What do you mean?

PAMELA: YOU ought to put the headlights on. HÅKON: IS it you or me thaVs driving?

PAMELA: hook out, there's a eat!

HÅKON: / have seen it!

PAMELA: / hardly dåre say any more!

Language in use