# Norwegian: If I had time, I would help you



## ajvanho

Hello everyone,

Check out this sentence: hvis jeg hadde hatt tid, skulle jeg ha hjulpet deg.
When translated it means: if I had had time, I would have helped you.

How do I say: if I had time, I would help you.

Thanks


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## TomTrussel

> How do I say: if I had time, I would help you.



"hvis jeg hadde tid, ville jeg hjulpet deg." You will hear "hvis jeg hadde hatt tid, skulle/ville jeg ha hjulpet deg" a lot more often though.

TT


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## ajvanho

Thanks Tom!


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## Dan2

TomTrussel said:


> "hvis jeg hadde tid, ville jeg hjulpet deg."


I would expect, based I admit on what is required in English (and German), "ville jeg hjelpe deg" or "ville jeg ha hjulpet deg".
So I just wanted to confirm: is "ville" + past participle ("ville jeg hjulpet deg") OK in Norwegian?  Thanks.


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## ajvanho

From what I read in the books "ville jeg hjelpe deg" construction is used in sentences like this one:
"Han sa at han ville/skulle hjelpe deg", meaning "he said he was going to help you" while "ville jeg (ha) hjulpet deg" is used in conditionals like in an example mentioned above.But if I am not wrong "jeg ville hjelpe deg" when stands alone can also mean "I wanted to help you".


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## TomTrussel

Dan2 said:


> I would expect, based I admit on what is required in English (and German), "ville jeg hjelpe deg" or "ville jeg ha hjulpet deg".
> So I just wanted to confirm: is "ville" + past participle ("ville jeg hjulpet deg") OK in Norwegian?  Thanks.



I'm not sure about this to be honest. Like I said, you will hear "ville jeg ha hjulpet deg" a lot more than "ville jeg hjulpet deg" but I do believe you can say both. In the case of "ville jeg hjelpe deg", I'd find that to be set in the future more than the English "I would help you" I'm not sure why... You might be right about this 

TT


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## ajvanho

I will try to summarize conditional in Norwegian:

1.Hvis jeg hadde hatt nok penger,skulle/ville jeg (ha) reist til Norge.
1.If I had had enough money I would have traveled to Norway.

2.Hvis jeg hadde nok penger,Skulle/ville jeg (ha) reist til Norge.
2.If I had enough money I would travel to Norway.

3.Hvis jeg har nok penger,skal jeg reise til Norge.
3.If I have enough money I shall travel to Norway.

I think this is how it works."Ha" in brackets is not obligatory.It would be great if someone could confirm that these examples are correct.


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## NorwegianNYC

ajvanho said:


> I will try to summarize conditional in Norwegian:
> 
> 1.Hvis jeg hadde hatt nok penger,skulle/ville jeg (ha) reist til Norge.
> 1.If I had had enough money I would have traveled to Norway.
> 
> 2.Hvis jeg hadde nok penger,Skulle/ville jeg (ha) reist til Norge.
> 2.If I had enough money I would travel to Norway.
> 
> 3.Hvis jeg har nok penger,skal jeg reise til Norge.
> 3.If I have enough money I shall travel to Norway.
> 
> I think this is how it works."Ha" in brackets is not obligatory.It would be great if someone could confirm that these examples are correct.



Yes, but it can also be expressed:
1. Hadde jeg hatt nok penger skulle jeg ha reist til Norge
2. Jeg skulle ha reist til Norge hvis jeg hadde hatt nok penger.

To start the sentence with 'hvis' it not necessarily more common.


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## ajvanho

I knew already for those alternatives but thank you anyway.


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## Magb

Dan2 said:


> I would expect, based I admit on what is required in English (and German), "ville jeg hjelpe deg" or "ville jeg ha hjulpet deg".
> So I just wanted to confirm: is "ville" + past participle ("ville jeg hjulpet deg") OK in Norwegian?  Thanks.


You can and should leave out the auxiliary verb "ha" before supines after modals like "ville" and "skulle". We don't go as far as the Swedes, who can drop the "ha" before supines in pretty much any context, but "ville hjulpet" is more common in both spoken and written Norwegian than "ville ha hjulpet." However, I've read that people from northern Norway never drop the "ha", and there might be other parts of the country where the same is true.


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## Dan2

Thanks very much for the replies to my question; very helpful.     -Dan


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