# Norwegian: "såret" or "såret noun / adjective"



## Icetrance

Hello dear friends,

Kan jeg spørre dere et spørsmål?

Why do you pronounce the _t_  in "et" in "såret" (_the wound_). Normally, the "et" is pronounced as an _a_ sound where the _t_ is silent (_huset, hodet, etc._). I didn't know that there were exceptions to this.

Tussen Tak!


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## raumar

Hello Icetrance, 
Which language are you asking about (you use the Swedish letter ä in the thread title, but what you write in Scandinavian seems to be Norwegian or Danish)?

If it is Norwegian, I don't quite understand your question. The final t is silent in the singular definite form of neuter nouns, such as "huset", "hodet" and "såret". In all three words, "et" is pronounced as a regular Norwegian e (not an "a" sound, more like an "eh"). In other words, the indefinite "hode" and definite "hodet" is pronounced the same way.

This pronunciation of "såret" (the definite neuter noun) sounds right to me: 
såret pronunciation: How to pronounce såret in Norwegian, Danish

But the final t is pronounced in the adjective "såret" (wounded), and also in "såret" as the past tense of the verb "såre".

By the way, if you write Norwegian, "Tussen tak" is not quite right. "Tussen" means something like "the gnome", and "tak" means "roof" or "ceiling". If you write Danish, I think "tak" is correct, but not "tussen".


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## Icetrance

raumar said:


> Hello Icetrance,
> Which language are you asking about (you use the Swedish letter ä in the thread title, but what you write in Scandinavian seems to be Norwegian or Danish)?
> 
> If it is Norwegian, I don't quite understand your question. The final t is silent in the singular definite form of neuter nouns, such as "huset", "hodet" and "såret". In all three words, "et" is pronounced as a regular Norwegian e (not an "a" sound, more like an "eh"). In other words, the indefinite "hode" and definite "hodet" is pronounced the same way.
> 
> This pronunciation of "såret" (the definite neuter noun) sounds right to me:
> såret pronunciation: How to pronounce såret in Norwegian, Danish
> 
> But the final t is pronounced in the adjective "såret" (wounded), and also in "såret" as the past tense of the verb "såre".
> 
> By the way, if you write Norwegian, "Tussen tak" is not quite right. "Tussen" means something like "the gnome", and "tak" means "roof" or "ceiling". If you write Danish, I think "tak" is correct, but not "tussen".



Hi there!

Sorry for my not being clear; I was referring only to Norwegian.

You answered my question perfectly, and you even included a few important corrections.

You corrected me on several things, all of which I am most appreciative.

Yes --  the "et" definite noun ending is more of an "eh" than an "a" sound.  I wasn't thinking things through too well when posting. 

As concerns the word "såret", I was considering it as a noun, not a verb; but I must have heard it as a verb as I heard the "t" pronounced at the end of the word. Again, if it is used as definite noun, you pronounce the ending as an "eh".  

So you did brilliantly overall in answering my question.

And, yes, once again, *Tusen takk*.


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## Ben Jamin

Icetrance said:


> Hello dear friends,
> 
> Kan jeg spørre dere et spørsmål?
> 
> Why do you pronounce the _t_  in "et" in "såret" (_the wound_). Normally, the "et" is pronounced as an _a_ sound where the _t_ is silent (_huset, hodet, etc._). I didn't know that there were exceptions to this.
> 
> Tussen Tak!


You don't say "spørre et spørsmål", but "stille et spørsmål".


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## serbianfan

I'm not sure whether 'eh' or 'a' correctly describes the sound at the end of "såret" (the wound). From a standard British English perspective, the closest is the sound at the end of 'mother', where the 'r' is not pronounced (though it is in some varieties of BE).


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## bicontinental

Ben Jamin said:


> You don't say "spørre et spørsmål", but "stille et spørsmål".


Yes!  man stiller et spørgsmål eller man spørger om noget, in Danish at least. I'm assuming the same goes for Norwegian?


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## serbianfan

In true bilingual fashion, your reply is half in Danish and half in English.  Ja, det er det samme på norsk (må huske å skrive 'bilingual' i profilen min...)


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## PoulBA

I have always found it interesting that the morpheme -et in nouns and the morpheme -et in past participles in Norwegian are _different_ phonemes, as explained above, whereas it is the _same_ phoneme in Danish, most people pronouncing it [əð] (though [əd] is also quite widespread). Thus såret, noun, and såret, pp, sound exactly the same, also in regard to  glottal stop or catch.


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## bicontinental

PoulBA said:


> Thus såret, noun, and såret, pp, sound exactly the same, also in regard to glottal stop or catch.


Interesting, I suppose there could be regional differences, but I would not expect "såret" to be pronounced the same way in these two examples,
_Hun rensede såret med jod _(She cleaned the wound with iodine) with a glottal stop
_Hun var dybt såret over hans kommentar_. (She was deeply wounded by his remark/comment) No glottal stop.


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## raumar

Icetrance said:


> As concerns the word "såret", I was considering it as a noun, not a verb; but I must have heard it as a verb as I heard the "t" pronounced at the end of the word.


Actually, you may sometimes hear people pronounce the final t in the singular definite form of neuter nouns. One example is the former party leader Carl I. Hagen. I think he usually pronounces the final t in _Fremskrittspartiet_. I can't think of any dialect where this is used. It is rather a form of hypercorrection: people believe that the written word is "correct", and tries to pronounce the word exactly as it is written. 

By the way, there is another difference between the pronunciation of "såret" (and some other words) as a noun and a verb/adjective, in addition to the silent t. "Såret" as a noun is pronounced with tone 1 (as "bønder"), såret as an adjective/verb is pronounced with tone 2 (as "bønner").



serbianfan said:


> From a standard British English perspective, the closest is the sound at the end of 'mother', where the 'r' is not pronounced (though it is in some varieties of BE).


Thanks, Serbianfan. It is always difficult to describe how sounds are pronounced.



bicontinental said:


> Yes! man stiller et spørgsmål eller man spørger om noget, in Danish at least. I'm assuming the same goes for Norwegian?


As Serbianfan said, it is the same in Norwegian. Let me just add that "stille et spørsmål" is more formal while "spørre om noe" is more used in eveyday speech.


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## PoulBA

bicont, #10, I stand corrected. The vowel and consonant values _are_ the same, but _not_ the glottal catch (except, of course, south of the glottal catch boundary) - sorry

By the way, in North Jutland, Vendsyssel, like in Norway, the -t in these -et words is silent


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