# Norwegian: regarding tangle / being tangled /untied



## sjiraff

Hei alle sammen,

One thing I have been unsure of (as to whether what I say sounds unnatural or dumb) is about laces being untied or tangled.

I know of three ways one can describe something as being "untied", them being:

Ubundet, løst or knyttet opp. 

Now, I wonder if anyone knows the most natural sounding way to say "Your laces are untied!" - should I say, 

"Skolissene dine er løse!" or "skolissene dine er ubundne!" or "Skolissene dine er knyttede opp!"?

And I also wondered if any of these sound unnatural? I'm also unsure about getting "tangled", I always just sort of said 
"Jeg rotet meg opp blant(blant?) nettet!" 
But I'm wondering if there is a better way to describe "becomming tangled in" and if you want to say "your shoelaces are tangled" - is it ok to say "skolissene er innviklede" or maybe "Skolissene mine har viklet seg blant hverandre"? 

It's one of those things I think might be a little tricky for foreigners, even if they sort of know the words, it's the kind of thing in  a language that can be muddled if you aren't farmiliar with what sounds correct to a native's ear.

Thanks for any help


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## myšlenka

sjiraff said:


> Now, I wonder if anyone knows the most natural sounding way to say "Your laces are untied!" - should I say,
> 
> "Skolissene dine er løse!" or "skolissene dine er ubundne!" or "Skolissene dine er knyttede/knyttet opp!"?


The two last ones don't really work because _ubunden_ would usually be something like "unbound" and _knyttet opp_ sounds like someone has untied them. I would go for the first one. I'm not sure how natural it sounds though.


sjiraff said:


> And I also wondered if any of these sound unnatural? I'm also unsure about getting "tangled", I always just sort of said
> "Jeg rotet meg opp blant(blant?) nettet!"


What kind of web are you talking about here? A spider's web or the world wide web? If is the former, you can say _Jeg satte meg fast i nettet/jeg viklet meg inn i nettet._ If it is the latter, a construction with _"å rote seg inn/bort...."_ would be better.


sjiraff said:


> But I'm wondering if there is a better way to describe "becomming tangled in" and if you want to say "your shoelaces are tangled" - is it ok to say "skolissene er innviklede" or maybe "Skolissene mine har viklet seg blant hverandre"?


_Skolissene er innviklede_ - the shoelaces are difficult/complex  
_Skolissene mine har viklet seg inn i hverandre _

You can also use the word _knute_ in some way or the other, which would be more natural perhaps.


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## AutumnOwl

Finns det någon norsk motsvarighet till svenska _"gå upp"_ - skosnörena har gått upp (av sig själv då de varit knutna för löst)?


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## myšlenka

AutumnOwl said:


> Finns det någon norsk motsvarighet till svenska _"gå upp"_ - skosnörena har gått upp (av sig själv då de varit knutna för löst)?


Å ja!! 
_Skolissene har gått opp_ passer perfekt!


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## sjiraff

myšlenka said:


> What kind of web are you talking about here? A  spider's web or the world wide web? If is the former, you can say _Jeg satte meg fast i nettet/jeg viklet meg inn i nettet._ If it is the latter, a construction with _"å rote seg inn/bort...."_ would be better.


I used nett meaning a real physical one, but I could've been talking about "tauer" or "ledninger", or maybe "tang" (if i were swimming in the sea and my foot got tangled)


_


myšlenka said:



			Skolissene er innviklede
		
Click to expand...

_


myšlenka said:


> - the shoelaces are difficult/complex
> _Skolissene mine har viklet seg inn i hverandre _


Ah,  I thought this might be the case. So is there no adjective for  "tangled" on its own, like "take the tangled laces/ropes/wires" or must I  always just say "ta lissene/tauene/ledningene som har viklet seg inn i  hverandre" (sounds a bit convoluted) 




myšlenka said:


> You can also use the word _knute_ in some way or the other, which would be more natural perhaps.


As in en knute? 



myšlenka said:


> Å ja!!
> _Skolissene har gått opp_ passer perfekt!


Ooh, does this just mean untied I'm guessing?


Thanks!


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## AutumnOwl

sjiraff said:


> Ooh, does this just mean untied I'm guessing?


_Gå upp _= go up, I would say come undone.


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## sjiraff

AutumnOwl said:


> _Gå upp _= go up, I would say come undone.



That's good to know, I hadn't seen it used for this before. Thanks


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## raumar

sjiraff said:


> So is there no adjective for  "tangled" on its own, like "take the tangled laces/ropes/wires" or must I  always just say "ta lissene/tauene/ledningene som har viklet seg inn i  hverandre" (sounds a bit convoluted)



The adjective you look for might be _flokete_. But in this case, it is better to use the noun _floke_: simply replace "lissene/tauene/ledningene som har viklet seg inn i hverandre" with "floken". _Floke_ means "something that is tangled" (for example a rope or a fishing net), and is also used figuratively (a difficult case or situation).


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## sjiraff

raumar said:


> The adjective you look for might be _flokete_. But in this case, it is better to use the noun _floke_: simply replace "lissene/tauene/ledningene som har viklet seg inn i hverandre" with "floken". _Floke_ means "something that is tangled" (for example a rope or a fishing net), and is also used figuratively (a difficult case or situation).



Ahh I see! So it would be natural to say "Pass på skolissene dine, de er flokete"?

And it's good to know the noun too, would you say "jeg havnet i (en?) floke" or "havnet i floken"? If it's kind of like "å være i knipen" or "i knipe" (I'm never sure which to use or if they convey something a bit different)

Thanks!


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## raumar

sjiraff said:


> Ahh I see! So it would be natural to say "Pass på skolissene dine, de er flokete"?



Well, not exactly. First, my impression is that the noun "floke" is more used than the adjective "flokete" -- with one exception: most of the hits in a Google search for "flokete" are about "flokete hår", or "flokete pels" (on cats and dogs). As in this example:
http://www.kk.no/livsstil/våkner-du-med-flokete-hår-24117

And second, I don't think "floke" is used much about shoelaces, unless the laces have become a knot that is almost impossible to untie. But that is usually something you discover yourself when you try to untie them (and then you might say "Her er det en floke"), not something that you warn others about. 



sjiraff said:


> And it's good to know the noun too, would you say "jeg havnet i (en?) floke" or "havnet i floken"? If it's kind of like "å være i knipen" or "i knipe" (I'm never sure which to use or if they convey something a bit different)



The figurative meaning of "floke" is closer to "a complex problem that is difficult to solve". A couple of examples: 

- Norway's relations with China are described as "Norges vanskeligste diplomatiske floke":
http://www.dagbladet.no/2013/10/18/kultur/meninger/hovedkommentar/kommentar/utenriks/29848561/

-  The Minister of Finance wants to solve a difficult issue concerning Norway's relationship with the EU. In short, an "EU-floke": 
http://www.nationen.no/eu/siv-jensen-vil-lose-eu-floke/

By the way, it is either "havne i knipe" or "havne i en knipe", but not "havne i knipen" (unless it is a specific "knipe" that you have mentioned before).


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## sjiraff

Thanks Raumar, that's a pretty good word actually I don't think we have an equivilant in English quite like it. 

And now I remember why I thought "knipen" - since I saw a movie title called Terkel i Knipe, but there is also a Swedish language version with "knipa" - so I confused it with the Norwegian, thinking it was the female gender ending!


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