# Norwegian: Gerund, Past Imperative etc



## HappyDance9

Hallo! I would like to know a few things on these topics:

1) *The Gerund*

In Norwegian, how would I form the Gerund aka The Present Participle e.g. reading, sleeping, going etc.

2) *The Past Imperative*

I know that an Imperative form exists in Norwegian e.g. spis! - eat!, vær! - be! Does a past imperative exist?

3) *Subjunctive*

In Norwegian, does a subjunctive form exist? e.g. I want that she *go* to the park.

4) Auxilary Verbs

Final thing I wish to add, in the Perfect Tense e.g. 'Jeg har spist' I have eaten, do some verbs use være as their auxilary - because on a verb conjugation site, the verb å bli use å være as its auxilary e.g. Jeg er blitt: http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/go.php?D1=25&T1=bli&H1=125

If in Norwegian, verbs use both være and ha as auxilary verbs (like in French, german, dutch)- then which verbs in Norwegian use være as its auxilary? Thank you for answering!

Much appreciated, Many thanks!


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## Ben Jamin

HappyDance9 said:


> Hallo! I would like to know a few things on these topics:
> 
> 1) *The Gerund*
> 
> In Norwegian, how would I form the Gerund aka The Present Participle e.g. reading, sleeping, going etc.
> 
> 2) *The Past Imperative*
> 
> I know that an Imperative form exists in Norwegian e.g. spis! - eat!, vær! - be! Does a past imperative exist?
> 
> 3) *Subjunctive*
> 
> In Norwegian, does a subjunctive form exist? e.g. I want that she *go* to the park.
> 
> 4) Auxilary Verbs
> 
> Final thing I wish to add, in the Perfect Tense e.g. 'Jeg har spist' I have eaten, do some verbs use være as their auxilary - because on a verb conjugation site, the verb å bli use å være as its auxilary e.g. Jeg er blitt: http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/go.php?D1=25&T1=bli&H1=125
> 
> If in Norwegian, verbs use both være and ha as auxilary verbs (like in French, german, dutch)- then which
> verbs in Norwegian use være as its auxilary? Thank you for answering!
> 
> Much appreciated, Many thanks!


You can find answers to most of your questions in the Wikipedia article Norwgian Language. Check also the locked thread about rcources.

By the way, where did you get the idea of "past imperative" from?


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## Svenke

HappyDance9 said:


> Hallo! I would like to know a few things on these topics:
> 
> 1) *The Gerund*
> 
> In Norwegian, how would I form the Gerund aka The Present Participle e.g. reading, sleeping, going etc.
> 
> 2) *The Past Imperative*
> 
> I know that an Imperative form exists in Norwegian e.g. spis! - eat!, vær! - be! Does a past imperative exist?
> 
> 3) *Subjunctive*
> 
> In Norwegian, does a subjunctive form exist? e.g. I want that she *go* to the park.
> 
> 4) Auxilary Verbs
> 
> Final thing I wish to add, in the Perfect Tense e.g. 'Jeg har spist' I have eaten, do some verbs use være as their auxilary - because on a verb conjugation site, the verb å bli use å være as its auxilary e.g. Jeg er blitt: http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/go.php?D1=25&T1=bli&H1=125
> 
> If in Norwegian, verbs use both være and ha as auxilary verbs (like in French, german, dutch)- then which verbs in Norwegian use være as its auxilary? Thank you for answering!
> 
> Much appreciated, Many thanks!



I assume you want information on Norwegian Bokmål.
1. The present participle ends in _-ende_, e.g. _lesende_, _sovende_, _gående_. However, its use is in many ways different from the English _-ing_ form.
2. A kind of past imperative does exist, e.g. _Ha skrevet brevet til jeg kommer_ '(Make sure to) Have written the letter before I arrive'. But it is highly unusual, and I guess many Norwegians will reject it.
3. The subjunctive ends in _-e_, but is archaic and is used only in some fixed expressions like Leve kongen! 'May the king live!'. Instead, we use (forms) of _skulle_ + infinitive if a command is involved, or forms of _måtte_ + infinitive if it's a wish.
4. Some intransitive verbs can (but need not) take _være_ as their auxiliary instead of _ha_. _Ha_ can always be used.

Svenke


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## bicontinental

Maybe I’m overthinking this, but a past imperative seems intuitively incorrect, even impossible. How do we apply the imperative, i.e. a command to events that have already taken place? You can give orders now…in the present, and in the appropriate context, also for future events.

But I can’t think of any situation where a past imperative could be used let alone how it would sound in English or in a Scandinavian language. Grammatically I’d call Svenke’s example above a future perfect construction (which combines the future with the past perfect).



> A kind of past imperative does exist, e.g._Ha skrevet brevet til jeg kommer_ '(Make sure to) Have written the letter before I arrive'. But it ishighly unusual, and I guess many Norwegians will reject it.



This command is in reference to an event that must be completed by a specific time in the future (i.e. ‘when I return/arrive’). It hasn’t happened yet, it is not a ‘past imperative’.

The future perfect:
I/You/we will have it finalized by tomorrow afternoon => have it finalized by tomorrow afternoon!  (_Få det afsluttet/få det gjort færdigt inden i morgen eftermiddag_!! in Danish)

Bic.


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## Svenke

Okay, it's not a past imperative, but 'future perfect' means that the event is in the past seen from a future reference point. Since normal imperatives are simply future, this is the only way I can see that an imperative can involve the past. 

Svenke


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## bicontinental

Svenke said:


> Since normal imperatives are simply future, this is the only way I can see that an imperative can involve the past.
> 
> Svenke



I agree!
(Future, near future or present events).

Bic.


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## HappyDance9

Okay, I've been emailed and that covers the idea of Past Imperative and Gerund.

What would you say about a Subjunctive in Norwegian? Does a form of the Subjunctive still exist?

Finally, in the Perfect Tense, do some verbs use 'ha' and some 'være' as their auxilary?
e.g. Jeg har spist. Do some verbs use være as the auxilary? If so, what verbs?


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## raumar

Hallo HappyDance9,

Svenke has already answered these two questions in post # 3 above:



Svenke said:


> 3. The subjunctive ends in _-e_, but is archaic and is used only in some fixed expressions like Leve kongen! 'May the king live!'. Instead, we use (forms) of _skulle_ + infinitive if a command is involved, or forms of _måtte_ + infinitive if it's a wish.
> 
> 4. Some intransitive verbs can (but need not) take _være_ as their auxiliary instead of _ha_. _Ha_ can always be used.



Since the subjunctive only exists in a few set expressions, it is almost extinct in Norwegian.

Regarding "er blitt" vs "har blitt": Some verbs can take either "ha" or "være" as their auxiliary. Other examples, in addition to "bli", are "komme" and "gå". Even though some people insist that only "er blitt" should be used, both "er blitt" and "har blitt" are correct -- as Svenke explained. 

In many cases, you can only use "ha". For example, you can't change "jeg har spist" into "jeg er spist" without changing the meaning completely ("jeg er spist" = "I am eaten"). The simplest solution for learners is to stick to "ha" as the auxiliary - that is never wrong. More information (in Norwegian) here: 
http://www.ordnett.no/språkverktøy/språkvett.harellerer

By the way: in the future, please start a new thread for each topic you want to ask a question about, instead of asking several questions in one thread. That makes it easier for people to search this forum for threads on a specific topic.


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## HappyDance9

raumar said:


> Hallo HappyDance9,
> 
> Svenke has already answered these two questions in post # 3 above:
> 
> 
> 
> Since the subjunctive only exists in a few set expressions, it is almost extinct in Norwegian.
> 
> Regarding "er blitt" vs "har blitt": Some verbs can take either "ha" or "være" as their auxiliary. Other examples, in addition to "bli", are "komme" and "gå". Even though some people insist that only "er blitt" should be used, both "er blitt" and "har blitt" are correct -- as Svenke explained.
> 
> In many cases, you can only use "ha". For example, you can't change "jeg har spist" into "jeg er spist" without changing the meaning completely ("jeg er spist" = "I am eaten"). The simplest solution for learners is to stick to "ha" as the auxiliary - that is never wrong. More information (in Norwegian) here:
> http://www.ordnett.no/språkverktøy/språkvett.harellerer
> 
> By the way: in the future, please start a new thread for each topic you want to ask a question about, instead of asking several questions in one thread. That makes it easier for people to search this forum for threads on a specific topic.



Thank you guys, for taking your time. From what I understand, the Subjunctive is the -e form aka the Infinitive so 'Jeg være' I am in the subjunctive? If this is the case- then Jeg ha would mean 'I have' in the subjunctive- meaning it's likely there could be a Perfect Subjunctive?

I have gone - Jeg ha gått (ha not harr because subjunctive as mentioned by Svenske would be the archaic infinitive form?) This is just a theory.


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## myšlenka

HappyDance9 said:


> Thank you guys, for taking your time. From what I understand, the Subjunctive is the -e form aka the Infinitive so 'Jeg være' I am in the subjunctive? If this is the case- then Jeg ha would mean 'I have' in the subjunctive- meaning it's likely there could be a Perfect Subjunctive?


Are you interested in the non-productive morphological subjunctive (which isn't used) or in how subjunctive semantics is expressed in the modern language?


HappyDance9 said:


> I have gone - Jeg ha gått (ha not harr because subjunctive as mentioned by Svenske would be the archaic infinitive form?) This is just a theory.


The old subjunctive form would be _have_ (which is also the old infinitive): _Jeg have gået_


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## HappyDance9

myšlenka said:


> Are you interested in the non-productive morphological subjunctive (which isn't used) or in how subjunctive semantics is expressed in the modern language?
> 
> The old subjunctive form would be _have_ (which is also the old infinitive): _Jeg have gået_



Is that Norwegian or Danish? It's difficult for me to tell as I am looking for the Norwegian? Also, how about the Imperfect, Pluperfect or a Future Subjunctive? That's the final question.


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## myšlenka

HappyDance9 said:


> It's difficult for me to tell as I am looking for the Norwegian? Also, how about the Imperfect, Pluperfect or a Future Subjunctive? That's the final question.


Subjunctive as a productive morphological category does not exist in modern Norwegian. It's hard to understand exactly what you are looking for.


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