Norwegian Compounds
Compound Words - Sammensatte ord
Noun+noun
In Norwegian we often construct a compound word where in English we would write two words or a construction with of: In modern Norwegian it is possible to link together as many as 4 different words. firemannsbolig - house for 4 families. The two words are often linked with an s when some sort of posession is involved: Månedskort - a month's travel card, dagsreise - a day''s journey, parkeringslplass - a place for parking, universitetsstudent - university student (studendt of university). NB. Compound words have to form a concept.
Or, they may be linked with an e, often when the first element refers to animals or people, barneskole - elementary school, Dyrebeskyttelse - protection of animals, påskedagen - the first day of Easter.
Or, no linking letter at all, kulepenn - ball point penn, ferietur - holiday trip.
Note: vinterdag / sommerdag / høstdag / vårdag / vårkveld etc. where in English we often would use s to mark posession i.e. summer's day.
Adjective+noun
Søtsaker - sweet things i.e. sweets
Storby - a large city
Hurtigtog - fast train
Verb+noun
Skrivebok / skrivepaper - excercise book / writing paqper
Spisestue - dining room
Hoppetau - skipping rope
Preposition+noun
Overtro - superstition
Baksete - back seat
Underverden - under world
Noun+participle (often to do with some kind of catastrophe)
Krigsskadet - hurt in the war
Trafikkskadet - hurt in the traffic
Jordsjelvrammet - hit by earth quake
Knivstukket / knivdrept - hurt / killed by knife
Adverb+noun
Nærmiljø - local community
Nærbutikk - local shop
Uteligger - homeless (sleeps outside)
Innemenneske / utemenneske - person who prefers to be inside / outside
Long words
Some compound words can be extremely long, composed of three or more words:
Sykehuspolitikk (syke/hus/politikk) - hospital policy
Menneskerettighetserklæring (menneske/rettighets/erklæring) -declaration of human rights
Hovedstadspostkontorer (hoved/stads/post/kontorer) - post offices in the capital
Arbeidsgiveransvaret (arbeids/giver/ansvaret) - the work giver's [employer's] responsibility