Sammensatte verb

Norwegian Compound Exercises

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