# Norwegian: "la seg (ikke) gjøre" different meaning?



## sjiraff

Hello everyone, 

Today I read this phrase in a book, which I've paraphrased slightly just to be more appropriate. A man says the following on the phone:

 Visste du at hun ble døpt? Det skal godt la seg gjøre å finne ei som er det på tjue.


I'm aware of things such as "Planene lot seg ikke gjennomføre"(the plans weren't possible/couldnt be carried-out) or simply just "Det lot seg ikke gjøre" (it couldn't be done)

But I have a feeling this means something along the lines of "it's hard to find such (a person) at the age of 20". The thing is I'm not sure why it's worded like this, and I thought at first it might be sarcasm. 

Can anyone explain what kind of expression this is and when else it might be used? 

Thank you!


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## myšlenka

sjiraff said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> Today I read this phrase in a book, which I've paraphrased slightly just to be more appropriate. A man says the following on the phone:
> 
> Visste du at hun ble døpt? Det skal godt la seg gjøre å finne ei som er det på tjue.


Hi,
are you sure that this is what it said? It should be "det skal godt gjøres å finne...."

It means that it's difficult.


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## sjiraff

myšlenka said:


> Hi,
> are you sure that this is what it said? It should be "det skal godt gjøres å finne...."
> 
> It means that it's difficult.



I checked and it definately says just "gjøre", but it might be because the character is a foreigner.

Either way, does this mean he is sort of being sarcastic? I would have thought if something "lar seg gjøre" then it would mean it can be done (unlike noe som ikke lar seg gjøre). Is this a kind of expression used often? From reading it it didn't make much sense to me!

Thanks


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## raumar

This seems to be a mix-up of two different expressions: "Det skal godt gjøres" (which means that something is difficult or impossible, as myšlenka has explained) and "Det lar seg gjøre" (which means that something can be done, as you already know).

As those two expressions have opposite meanings, the combination is confusing. It does not make sense to me, either. But a google search for "det skal godt la seg gjøre" shows that this mix-up is not unusual.


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## sjiraff

raumar said:


> This seems to be a mix-up of two different expressions: "Det skal godt gjøres" (which means that something is difficult or impossible, as myšlenka has explained) and "Det lar seg gjøre" (which means that something can be done, as you already know).
> 
> As those two expressions have opposite meanings, the combination is confusing. It does not make sense to me, either. But a google search for "det skal godt la seg gjøre" shows that this mix-up is not unusual.



Ahh I see, well sorry for the confusion. I also tried searching it, but it didn't really bring me any closer to what exactly it was.

So since it's probably meant to be: "Det skal godt gjøres å finne ei som er det..." - this then means it's a hard thing to find.

I haven't really heard that expression before (Well if I have I probably skipped over it not knowing what exactly was meant by it). Is it okay to say it with other things, like "*det skal godt gjøres å finne en god kopp te i utlandet*"? Going from what Raumar added about it maybe being impossible, is it quite a strong expression/conveys that something is a big task?

Thanks


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## raumar

sjiraff said:


> I haven't really heard that expression before (Well if I have I probably skipped over it not knowing what exactly was meant by it). Is it okay to say it with other things, like "*det skal godt gjøres å finne en god kopp te i utlandet*"? Going from what Raumar added about it maybe being impossible, is it quite a strong expression/conveys that something is a big task?



That's right! "Det skal godt gjøres å finne en god kopp te i utlandet" works fine. 

I don't know the origin of this expression, and others may be able to explain this better than I can. But I suppose you can compare "det skal godt gjøres å" with "you have to do a really good job, to be able to ...".


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## sjiraff

raumar said:


> That's right! "Det skal godt gjøres å finne en god kopp te i utlandet" works fine.
> 
> I don't know the origin of this expression, and others may be able to explain this better than I can. But I suppose you can compare "det skal godt gjøres å" with "you have to do a really good job, to be able to ...".



I see! I would never have totally got that without you guys, thanks a bunch.


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## NorwegianNYC

If you do the literal translation, you will see there is a certain logic to it: "Det skal godt la seg gjøre å finne ei som er det på tjue" = "It will (perfectly) well let itself be done to find one....
Meaning: "to let itself be done" means that something make itself possible, or sooner - it is possible in itself


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## raumar

You are right, NorwegianNYC. I did not see this possibility, but that may definitely be the case. Of course, that depends of the context. If this is the explanation, the meaning must be that it is quite easy to find a baptized person at the age of 20 (as most people have been baptized long before that age). 

But if this explanation doesn't fit into the context, it might still be a mix-up of the two expressions. My Google search came up with some examples where people have written "Det skal godt la seg gjøre ...", but obviously meant "Det skal godt gjøres ...". For example:
Sør-Afrika har så mange variasjoner, at det skal godt la seg gjøre å ikke finne noe man syns er interessant.


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## sjiraff

raumar said:


> You are right, NorwegianNYC. I did not see this possibility, but that may definitely be the case. Of course, that depends of the context. If this is the explanation, the meaning must be that it is quite easy to find a baptized person at the age of 20 (as most people have been baptized long before that age).
> 
> But if this explanation doesn't fit into the context, it might still be a mix-up of the two expressions. My Google search came up with some examples where people have written "Det skal godt la seg gjøre ...", but obviously meant "Det skal godt gjøres ...". For example:
> Sør-Afrika har så mange variasjoner, at det skal godt la seg gjøre å ikke finne noe man syns er interessant.



I'm quite certain that the context of it in this case was meaning that it was rare to find, rather than easy to find, even if I didn't fully understand what kind of expression this was. (I also paraphrased the adjective)


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## NorwegianNYC

In that case, I would prefer: "Det skal godt gjøres". That statement in not ambiguous. In my mind "det skal godt la seg gjøre" is a positive statement


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## sjiraff

NorwegianNYC said:


> In that case, I would prefer: "Det skal godt gjøres". That statement in not ambiguous. In my mind "det skal godt la seg gjøre" is a positive statement



So what you're saying is "Det skal godt gjøres å..." means something isn't easy, where as "Det skal godt la seg gjøre å..." is saying something is easy?

Thank you


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## NorwegianNYC

The latter (as raumar also points out) often means "it is definitely possible"


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## sjiraff

NorwegianNYC said:


> The latter (as raumar also points out) often means "it is definitely possible"



That's pretty interesting how they are opposites, I'll have to remember that in the future. Are they used often in daily speech?


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## Ífaradà

Without analyzing or thinking about the expression, I immediately read it as "it's not easy to find a baptized person at 20". "Visste du" implies a surprise, and the fact that fewer people are being baptized now than before, only supports this.

To me there is no significant difference between "det skal godt gjøres å finne" and "det skal godt la seg gjøre å finne".


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## sjiraff

Ífaradà said:


> Without analyzing or thinking about the expression, I immediately read it as "it's not easy to find a baptized person at 20". "Visste du" implies a surprise, and the fact that fewer people are being baptized now than before, only supports this.



Yeah I agree, I definately got that vibe from it but I didn't quite understand how the expression worked.



Ífaradà said:


> To me there is no significant difference between "det skal godt gjøres å finne" and "det skal godt la seg gjøre å finne".



Really? That's quite different to how NorwegianNYC interprets it above!


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## NorwegianNYC

If we conduct a word-by-word translation into English, it leaves little doubt:

"det skal godt gjøres (å finne)"
[it][will][well][be done] (to find) _rephrased_: “it will be well done (...[if one can] find)” - indicating difficulty

"det skal godt la seg gjøre å finne"
[it][will][well][let][itself][do](to find) _rephrased_: “it will let itself be done (to find)” - indicating possibility


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## Ífaradà

In my head, if it was written this way "det skal la seg gjøre å finne" it would indeed indicate a possibility, but since it's written "det skal godt la seg gjøre å finne" the indication of possbility is kind of gone.


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## sjiraff

It does make sense now you break it down, thanks NorwegianNYC and Ífaradá. The meaning would probably also be a lot clearer when it's spoken with a tone to emphisise how it's meant.


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## raumar

sjiraff said:


> The meaning would probably also be a lot clearer when it's spoken with a tone to emphisise how it's meant.



I think that's true. But I am not really happy with any of the explanations. 

NorwegianNYC's translation makes sense to me, but "Det skal godt la seg gjøre å..." might not be the combination of words that most people would choose. For example, "Det skal absolutt la seg gjøre .." and "Det skal helt klart la seg gjøre.." sounds more natural to me, if the point is to emphasise that something can be done. 

Regarding Ífaradá's explanation, I still see "Det skal godt la seg gjøre å..." as a distortion of "Det skal godt gjøres å...". But this might just be my opinion;  the google search showed that other people use the phrase the same way as Ífaradá.

Now you have two Norwegian speakers who read the phrase "Det skal godt la seg gjøre ..." in completely different ways, and a third who is confused. My advice would be: try to avoid that phrase!


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## sjiraff

raumar said:


> I think that's true. But I am not really happy with any of the explanations.
> 
> NorwegianNYC's translation makes sense to me, but "Det skal godt la seg gjøre å..." might not be the combination of words that most people would choose. For example, "Det skal absolutt la seg gjøre .." and "Det skal helt klart la seg gjøre.." sounds more natural to me, if the point is to emphasise that something can be done.
> 
> Regarding Ífaradá's explanation, I still see "Det skal godt la seg gjøre å..." as a distortion of "Det skal godt gjøres å...". But this might just be my opinion;  the google search showed that other people use the phrase the same way as Ífaradá.



You're right, "Det skal absolutt la seg gjøre" and "det skal helt klart la seg gjøre" make it clear it means it is doable.



raumar said:


> Now you have two Norwegian speakers who read the phrase





raumar said:


> "Det skal godt la seg gjøre ..." in completely different ways, and a third who is confused. My advice would be: try to avoid that phrase!



Haha alright, maybe these things depend a lot on the tone of how it's said to be more sarcastic perhaps.

Thanks!


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## myšlenka

_Det skal godt gjøres_ and _det skal godt la seg gjøre_ mean two different things in my ears too (though I would never use the latter). Their stress and intonation patterns are so different that I have problems understanding how they can be mixed up.


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## NorwegianNYC

I agree with myslenka. I have difficulty understanding how the two can be confused:
_
(1) Det skal godt gjøres å bygge bro over Sognefjorden
(2) Det skal godt la seg gjøre å bygge bro over Sognefjorden_


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