# Norwegian: fremdeles, likevel, allikevel, ennå, fortsatt



## 盲人瞎馬

Hello. 

I keep mixing these words up and I think they all overlap in some way. Could someone explain to me their meanings and uses separately?  I keep using dictionaries but I keep mixing them up.

Thanks.


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## Ornin

I'm not fluent in Norwegian (have only been going to language school for less than 2 months), so my answer might be comparatively short to the ones coming later on. 

These are all adverbs in Norwegian. Fremdeles = fortsatt. Likevel = allikevel. 

Jeg er hjemme fremdeles/ fortsatt. >> I am still at home.

Hun sover hele natta, likevel er hun trett om morgenen. >> She sleeps the whole night. She, however, is tired in the morning(s). Or you can say ''But still she is tired in the morning''. Likevel requires two slightly contradicting sentences from how I understand the word. Sometimes the contradiction could be implied or mentioned eralier. 

For ennå my brain wires got tangled up and I think someone with more knowledge would be of help to correct me and expand on this.


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## 盲人瞎馬

Ornin said:


> Hun sover hele natta, likevel er hun trett om morgenen. >> She sleeps the whole night. She, however, is tired in the morning(s).



So "likevel" means the same as "men" in that phrase? "Men" can also mean "however", according to my dictionary.


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## raumar

Welcome to the forum, Ornin. That's a good start!

The main distinction here is between _likevel/allikevel_ and the others. As Ornin explained, _likevel_ describes a contrast to something, often the previous sentence ("nevertheless", "however" or "anyway" in English). I wouldn't say that _likevel _means _men_ - you could also say "_Hun sover hele natta, men likevel er hun trøtt om morgenen_" (... but she is nevertheless tired in the morning). Or "_Hun sover hele natta, men hun er trøtt om morgenen likevel_".

_Fremdeles_, _fortsatt _and _ennå_ is about time - how long something is going on (or not going on). "Still" is often a good translation. In the example _"Jeg er hjemme fremdeles/fortsatt"_, you could replace _fremdeles/fortsatt_ with _ennå_. You could also change the word order to _"Jeg er fremdeles/fortsatt hjemme". _In that case, "_ennå_" sounds a bit odd.

_Ennå_ is also used in some cases where English uses "yet": "_Hun har ikke kommet ennå_" - "She has not arrived yet". You should note that we can use "_enda_" instead of "_ennå_". At least according to Språkrådet - but some people disagree with that.

Vitalore, if you are looking for an unambiguous translation of each of these words to English, you will be disappointed. There are no one-to-one translations here; there are partly overlapping meanings. Therefore, it is difficult to give an exact description of each word. I think it will be easier to explain this, if you give us some examples of sentences where you are in doubt about the choice of words.


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## 盲人瞎馬

raumar said:


> _Fremdeles_, _fortsatt _and _ennå_ is about time - how long something is going on (or not going on). "Still" is often a good translation. In the example _"Jeg er hjemme fremdeles/fortsatt"_, you could replace _fremdeles/fortsatt_ with _ennå_. You could also change the word order to _"Jeg er fremdeles/fortsatt hjemme". _In that case, "_ennå_" sounds a bit odd.



So, in positive phrases ennå, fortsatt and fremdeles can all be used to mean "still", right?
Jeg er fortsatt/likevel/ennå (disregard possible weird word order) her = I am still here


What about allikevel? Same meaning as likevel?

_



			Ennå
		
Click to expand...

_


> is also used in some cases where English uses "yet": "_Hun har ikke kommet ennå_" - "She has not arrived yet". You should note that we can use "_enda_" instead of "_ennå_". At least according to Språkrådet - but some people disagree with that.



Interesting. Am I translating these correctly?

Hun har ikke kommet fremdeles - She hasn't come still.
Hun har ikke kommet fortsatt - She hasn't come still.
Hun har ikke kommet ennå - She hasn't come yet.

Also, isnt fortsatt the imperative form of å fortsatte? Can you do that with other verbs?


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## raumar

Vitalore said:


> So, in positive phrases ennå, fortsatt and fremdeles can all be used to mean "still", right?
> Jeg er fortsatt/likevel/ennå (disregard possible weird word order) her = I am still here



That's right.



Vitalore said:


> What about allikevel? Same meaning as likevel?



Yes, it is basically different spellings of the same word. 



Vitalore said:


> Am I translating these correctly?
> Hun har ikke kommet fremdeles - She hasn't come still.
> Hun har ikke kommet fortsatt - She hasn't come still.
> Hun har ikke kommet ennå - She hasn't come yet.



My English isn't good enough to be certain about the correct English translations, I'm afraid. I'll just stick to your Norwegian examples. The word order doesn't work in the first two examples; it must be "_Hun har/er fremdeles/fortsatt ikke kommet_". There is also a slight difference in meaning here.  "_Hun har/er fremdeles/fortsatt ikke kommet_" indicates impatience, while "_Hun har/er ikke kommet ennå_" just states a fact. 

I am not really able to explain the grammar behind this, or the logic of the word order. Some of the other users of this forum can do that better than me. 



Vitalore said:


> Also, isnt fortsatt the imperative form of å fortsatte? Can you do that with other verbs?



The verb is "_å fortsette_" and the imperative form is "_fortsett_" - but the past participle is "_fortsatt_".


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## Ornin

raumar said:


> Welcome to the forum, Ornin.



Takk skal du ha, raumar!


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## steve_c

I'm not native either, but I've been living in Norway for 20 years. It always helps me to understand "likevel" by thinking of it as "even so", which is reasonably literal. It always works in translation to English.


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## Dan2

Vitalore said:


> Hun har ikke kommet fremdeles - She hasn't come still.
> Hun har ikke kommet fortsatt - She hasn't come still.
> Hun har ikke kommet ennå - She hasn't come yet.





raumar said:


> The word order doesn't work in the first two examples;


And it doesn't work in English either, as raumar seems to suspect.  It must be "She still hasn't come."


raumar said:


> There is also a slight difference in meaning here.  "_Hun har/er fremdeles/fortsatt ikke kommet_" indicates impatience, while "_Hun har/er ikke kommet ennå_" just states a fact.


There's a corresponding difference in English.  "She still hasn't come" suggests impatience or surprise, while "She hasn't come yet" is neutral.


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## astri

raumar said:


> That's right.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, it is basically different spellings of the same word.



Så likevel og allikevel kan brukes om hverandre i enhver sammenheng?


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## basslop

astri said:


> Så likevel og allikevel kan brukes om hverandre i enhver sammenheng?



Dette skriver Språkrådet: Allikevel, likevel


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## raumar

Vi bør vel også nevne at selv om ordene kan brukes om hverandre, så brukes de ikke like mye i praksis. "Likevel" er mer utbredt enn "allikevel". Nynorsk tillater bare "likevel", ikke "allikevel". Det er nok også mange bokmålsbrukere (inkludert meg selv) som bare bruker "likevel", i hvert fall skriftlig.


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## basslop

Og for å gjøre bildet komplett, bør vi da også nevne at mange bruker "allikavel", hvert fall muntlig. Det er ikke en gyldig variant.


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## astri

basslop said:


> Dette skriver Språkrådet: Allikevel, likevel


Takk!


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