# Norwegian: Jeg Vil



## KILLERSECRETS

Im thinking about getting a tattoo of a phrase in Norwegian, cause I am mostly Norwegain than anything else so I thought it would be perfect.

Anyway I want to get *I Will*, just that nothing else. 
It's suppose to mean (for example): I will get this job, I will loose weight, I will finish college, whatever I want it to mean at the time Im trying to get something finished/done. 
Im starting to think I cant just get Jeg Vil cause it means more things than one? If it does what else does it mean? Sorry if this is confusing, I tried to explain it as best I could.

Sorry about my last posts, thanks to whoever helps.


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## Basaloe

E: Sorry My head was a little bit confused. I think it works.


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## Polymnia

It can also mean "I want"  .  In Norwegian when you say "I will..." or "I am going to....", they use "Jeg skal...."

Best regards


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## oskhen

"Jeg vil" mainly means implies volition, i.e. that you want something.


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## The_Red_Lion

Following on from other replies.

I’m not Norwegian, and I’m only looking at the language as a bit of a hobby. But my understanding, after looking in textbooks, of what you have asked is as follows:

*Skal* “shall” is used when the speaker intends to undertake the activity and maintains control over the decisions and plans. The event has been planned.

*Vil* “will” expresses an event in which the speaker is involved, but over which he has no control.

In Norwegian *vil* most often expresses “want to” or “it is my will to.”

So looking at the examples you have given where you want to achieve something and be in control of what you are doing. It seems that *Jeg skal* is the most appropriate.

For example:

*Jeg skal vaske bilen i morgen.* (I shall/will wash the car tomorrow.)

As I say though that is only how I see things from an English speaker’s perspective. It does however seem tricky and difficult to explain.


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## Knut

The_Red_Lion said:


> In Norwegian *vil* most often expresses “want to” or “it is my will to.”
> .



"Jeg vil gjøre det" or "jeg skal gjøre det" may actually express the same intention, that is: "I am going to do this". If my wife asks me, "Will you please get me a new car?", my answer is of course "jeg skal gjøre det" or "jeg vil gjøre det". Meaning exactly the same thing, I'm going to get my wife a new car. And "vi vil/skal være glade resten av våre dager" (and we are going to be happy the rest of our days").


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## Myha

I don't use *vil* the same way I use *skal*. When I use *vil* it's something that expresses a wish or desire, whereas *skal* expresses something that is definite, like in your examples Knut, to me "Jeg vil/skal gjøre det" would be translated into "I want to/will do it" so that the first one expresses a wish to do something whereas the other one expresses something that will be done regardless, so that when you use *vil* in your example about the car it means that you want to get your wife a new car but you might not afford it at the moment


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## Knut

Myha said:


> I don't use *vil* the same way I use *skal*. When I use *vil* it's something that expresses a wish or desire, whereas *skal* expresses something that is definite, like in your examples Knut, to me "Jeg vil/skal gjøre det" would be translated into "I want to/will do it" so that the first one expresses a wish to do something whereas the other one expresses something that will be done regardless, so that when you use *vil* in your example about the car it means that you want to get your wife a new car but you might not afford it at the moment



Just curious, from what part of Norway are you coming from? There may be dialectical differences concerning "vil" and "skal". I'm from Tønsberg. 

This said, I agree that "vil" may include a wish for doing something. If my wife asks the family, "Who wants to get me a car?" and I say, "I will". Then this answer may include both a wish to get her a car but also a declaration saying I shall do it. But the same goes for the answer "jeg skal gjøre det", but in this case it may also be a statement saying "I do it nobody else". I think we have to consider the sound or intonation. Depending on the intonation I may make both "jeg vil" and "jeg skal" move from a wish of doing something to a statement declaring I do it and nobody else.


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## kirsitn

I agree with Myha (and I'm from the north of Norway).  "Jeg vil" implies something that I want to do (but might not necessarily be able to do), whereas "Jeg skal" is something that I definitely will do, regardless of whether or not I actually want to do it. 
For instance:

Jada, jeg SKAL vaske huset i morgen, selv om jeg heller VIL gå på kino. (Yes, I will clean the house tomorrow, even though I'd rather go see a movie.)


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## Knut

kirsitn said:


> I agree with Myha (and I'm from the north of Norway).  "Jeg vil" implies something that I want to do (but might not necessarily be able to do), whereas "Jeg skal" is something that I definitely will do, regardless of whether or not I actually want to do it.
> For instance:
> 
> Jada, jeg SKAL vaske huset i morgen, selv om jeg heller VIL gå på kino. (Yes, I will clean the house tomorrow, even though I'd rather go see a movie.)



But you may very well say, "jada, jeg VIL vaske huset i morgen, selv om jeg heller VIL gå på kino", meaning exactly the same as when you say "Jada, jeg SKAL vaske huset i morgen, selv om jeg heller VIL gå på kino." Actually we are simply dealing with two different ways of expressing future tense. In Norwegian this is always vil/skal + the verb. 

And to end, "jeg *vil* ikke fortsette diskusjonen" (I will not continue the discussion). It should not be hard to understand that this means exactly the same as "jeg *skal* ikke fortsette diskusjonen". Hence, no difference.


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## kirsitn

Knut said:


> But you may very well say, "jada, jeg VIL vaske huset i morgen, selv om jeg heller VIL gå på kino", meaning exactly the same as when you say "Jada, jeg SKAL vaske huset i morgen, selv om jeg heller VIL gå på kino." Actually we are simply dealing with two different ways of expressing future tense. In Norwegian this is always vil/skal + the verb.



To me the two expressions are not the same. I would never say "Jeg vil vaske huset"...  Guess there is a regional or cultural difference in how we perceive these expressions.


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## aaspraak

I might say "boka vil bli levert" or "boka skal bli levert" without any difference in meaning. But I wouldn't say "jeg vil vaske huset" unless i want to wash my house.


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## Myha

To me the form "Jeg vil vaske huset" sounds a little outdated.. I'm from the Oslo area. 
I can agree that it's possible in a passive sentence: "Huset vil bli vasket" (The house will be cleaned), but if the subject in the sentence is a pronoun or a name it implies a wish or desire.

(The active/passive difference just occurred to me and sounds plausible...)


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## AndersH

aaspraak said:


> I might say "boka vil bli levert" or "boka skal bli levert" without any difference in meaning.



This was bloody interesting. In Swedish it would be complete and total nonsense to say that "boken vill bli levererad" as if the book had any will of its own. (The Swedish equvalent is "boken kommer att levereras".)


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## Pteppic

It seems to me the line might be drawn at animacy, as in whether or not the subject of the sentence has a will of their own or not. For instance, I'd translate "Jeg vil bli vasket" with "I want to be washed", while "Bilen vil bli vasket" would be "The car will be washed", though both are passive sentences. I suppose both meanings can be possible in both sentences, given some sort of (peculiar) context, but in both cases, one meaning comes a lot more naturally than in the other, at least to me.

As for "Jeg vil ikke fortsette diskusjonen", I'd say it's at least ambiguous, and the meaning would depend on context or they way you say it, or both. If you say "Denne diskusjonen vil ikke forstette" ("This discussion will not continue"), however, everything's clear. As far as I'm concerned, with an animate subject, the only way to be certain of the "I will" meaning is to say "Jeg kommer ikke til å fortsette diskusjonen".


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