# Norwegian:  may



## otis_fulano

I was wondering what words or phrases I could use to say "may" in Norwegian; that is, to ask permission for something.

For example, in English a child might ask, "Can I have a glass of water?," and the parent would correct them, "_May_ I have a glass of water."  (Which mostly goes to show that it's okay to use "can" as well as "may" to express this in English.)

How would I ask, then, "_May_ I have a glass of water?" in Norwegian?  Would I use kan, or få?  Is there a more formal and a more colloquial way of asking this?

Thank you!


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## Grefsen

Velkommen til nordiske språkforumet, otis_fulano! 


otis_fulano said:


> How would I ask, then, "_May_ I have a glass of water?" in Norwegian?  Would I use kan, or få?


Actually you could use both _kan_ and _få_ in your example.  This is how I learned to ask for a glass of water _på norsk_:

Kan jeg få et glass vann?



otis_fulano said:


> Is there a more formal and a more colloquial way of asking this?


I'd suggest waiting for one of the native Norwegian speaking members of the forum to answer this question for you.

Lykke til!


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## Svenke

It all depends on how polite you need or want to be.
(Examples given in Bokmål.)

"Får jeg et glass vann?" can be used among friends and family. It would be impolite elsewhere.
"Kan jeg få ..." is more polite, and "Kunne jeg få ..." even more so.


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## raumar

Svenke and Grefsen have already answered the question well -- I'll just add a couple of examples. 

"Kan/kunne jeg få ..." might be unnecessarily polite among friends and family. In that context, I would prefer "Har du et glass vann?" That is a little less direct, and therefore a little more polite, than Svenke's "Får jeg et glass vann?".

If you ask somebody for a big favour -- something more important than a glass of water -- I would definitely use "Kunne ...", also among friends and family.

Back to the glass of water: If you need to be even more polite than "Kunne jeg få ...", you could say "Unnskyld, kunne jeg få...". Just like "Excuse me, ...." in English.


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## NorwegianNYC

Norwegian has long since lost the may form, and usually depends on various forms of 'kan'-forms.
Interestingly, English is also in the process of shedding the may-form, and in 20-30 it will become very rare.


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## Ben Jamin

raumar said:


> Svenke and Grefsen have already answered the question well -- I'll just add a couple of examples.
> 
> "Kan/kunne jeg få ..." might be unnecessarily polite among friends and family. In that context, I would prefer "Har du et glass vann?" That is a little less direct, and therefore a little more polite, than Svenke's "Får jeg et glass vann?".
> 
> If you ask somebody for a big favour -- something more important than a glass of water -- I would definitely use "Kunne ...", also among friends and family.
> 
> Back to the glass of water: If you need to be even more polite than "Kunne jeg få ...", you could say "Unnskyld, kunne jeg få...". Just like "Excuse me, ...." in English.


I think that in cases when there is no "getting" involved (it would lead to an awkward duplication) one can use the word "få" as an equivalent of English "may", for example.: "får man røyke her?".


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## Grefsen

raumar said:


> Svenke and Grefsen have already answered the question well -- I'll just add a couple of examples.


Tusen takk for det, *raumar!* 


raumar said:


> Back to the glass of water: If you need to be even more polite than "Kunne jeg få ...", you could say "Unnskyld, kunne jeg få...". Just like "Excuse me, ...." in English.


I'm guessing that you would only use "_Unnskyld, kunne jeg få..._" at an extremely nice restaurant, a very formal dinner party, or if you were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spend some time with the Norwegian Royal Family.  


Ben Jamin said:


> I think that in cases when there is no "getting" involved (it would lead to an awkward duplication) one can use the word "få" as an equivalent of English "may", for example.: "får man røyke her?".


Takk for dette svaret, Ben Jamin. 

Også gratulerer på å nå milepælen på 4000 innlegg!! Jeg er veldig imponert!!


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## NorwegianNYC

Well, "får man røyke her" is a difficult question to actually use, and somewhat dated. The more common way of asking is "kan jeg røyke her?"


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## raumar

Grefsen said:


> I'm guessing that you would only use "_Unnskyld, kunne jeg få..._" at an extremely nice restaurant, a very formal dinner party, or if you were fortunate enough to have the opportunity to spend some time with the Norwegian Royal Family.



I think there are situations where I would feel an even stronger need to be polite, Grefsen! 
For example, if I had to ask a complete stranger (who isn't a waiter or bartender) for a glass of water.


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