# Norwegian: å gå på



## psboy80

I've been trying to figure out what the expression 'å gå på' means, and have come up with 'to be in\on' or 'to go to'... Does anybody know of any good grammar sources for finding out different meanings for this expression?? Tusund takk


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## Lemminkäinen

Can you give us any more context than that? Assuming you're speaking about Norwegian, it can be used to mean different things in different situations.


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## psboy80

Thanks for replying Lemminkäinen,
Yes I am refering to Norwegian in the use of 'å gå på' and I've found it used in a couple of examples:

1) jeg går på norskkurs (to be in a course, to attend one regularly)
2) han går på medesiner (to be on chronic medication)

But I was wondering if there were other meanings, and if anybody knew some, or a grammar reference (either book or webpage) to investigate some more?


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## missTK

This is like asking what "is on" or "be in" or "go to" mean in English... very hard to answer because it can be used in so many different ways. None of them are very mysterious, it will generally be along the lines of be in, go to, be on, walk on, go for, etc. 

I think it's easier to start at the other end...just as if you were learning English, you would probably not start by trying to list all the expressions in the English language that use the word "go".


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## missTK

If you really want to do this though, just to get you started you have
gå på tur
gå på noen (approach somebody aggressively e.g for an answer, or in football)
gå på veien
Hva går han på? (what is he on, implying drugs)
gå på kino
gå på fotball (childish way of saying you're on a football team)
det går på... (it's about...)
det går på fem minutter (it can be done in/takes five minutes)
gå på TV (be on TV, about a program but not a person)

etc etc.


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## Wilma_Sweden

psboy80 said:


> Does anybody know of any good grammar sources for finding out different meanings for this expression??


The usual place to look for different examples of usage would probably be in a good Norwegian-English dictionary that lists lots of examples. Have you checked the resource page at the top of this forum? In that post there are a number of resources listed for each Scandinavian language.

I know it's not very helpful showing a Swedish-English dictionary, but I'll do it anyway just to illustrate my point and perhaps get the Norwegian community to recommend a similar one in terms of examples given (online or in book form). 

In Norstedts' online dictionary, you can search the verb, gå, or the phrase, gå på, and in each case there are several different translation equivalents as well as a multitude of examples (click the 'Exempel' link right below the 'Skriv ut' button to show *all* the examples):
http://www.norstedtsord.se/?s=g%C3%A5+p%C3%A5&l=SVEENG

If any of the online Norwegian-English dictionaries show a similar plethora of examples, that is probably your best bet.

/Wilma


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## The_Red_Lion

Further to earlier replies.

None of the language books that I have seen in English give much regard to å gå på. But a couple of meanings that they do suggest are:

å gå på ski - to go skiing

Bare gå på! - Just keep it up!

I'm not sure if a native would use the second example though.


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## missTK

Re: the second example, I would say it but not with that meaning.
Bare gå på : don't be afraid to attack, be aggressive
On the other hand,
Bare stå på : just keep it up
Could be dialect differences or have changed over time.

And I forgot a good one: Å gå på (noe) : to be fooled, fall for (a lie, joke etc.)


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## psboy80

MissTK, Red Lion and Wilma, thank you everybody for your help! It's obvious that the expression goes way beyond any single definition, and the examples have been really helpful, including the Swedish ones! Do you know if there are any online Norwegian reference dictionaries such as the Swedish one you sent, Wilma?
Thank you all once again!


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