# Norwegian: Life in Oslo



## Grefsen

I would like to use "Life in Oslo" *p**å  norsk* as the title of an email and am wondering if it should be *"Liv i Oslo" eller "Liv p**å  Oslo" or perhaps even another option? * 

**


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## Alxmrphi

Icelandic's rule is that if it's a foreign city you have to use* í*otherwise it's possible to use both* á *and* í *for cities within the country (with some exceptions where you have to use *á*)

So I don't know the answer but I'd be interested to see if it was the same, in which case it'd be *í*, Lif í Oslo.
I'm going on the judgement these letters are the same in both languages, I think they are, I've deduced from your *p**å  norsk *to be "in Norwegian" just like á islensku is for "in Icelandic" so I presume they both correspond.

[Edit] google:

Liv i Oslo = 68,000
Liv på  Oslo = 473

Does this help?


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## oskhen

Grefsen said:


> I would like to use "Life in Oslo" *p**å norsk* as the title of an email and am wondering if it should be *"Liv i Oslo" eller "Liv p**å Oslo" or perhaps even another option? *
> 
> **


 
It's "i", out from rules that I don't think are 100% clear or consistent. Some places, one is "på", some "i", but I think one is "i" almost all cities. 

By the way; If you plan to write about how life is in Oslo (for whoever), I would use "liv*et *i Oslo". That's the idiom.


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## kirsitn

The preposition i is correct, but I would say "livet i Oslo" because "liv i Oslo" makes me think that it's a woman called Liv who is in Oslo. You could say that "Det er mye liv i Oslo" (i.e. Oslo is a lively city), but I'm assuming you want to say something like "how is life in Oslo" or "Life in Oslo is great", and in that case you should use "livet", not "liv".


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## kirsitn

oskhen said:


> It's "i", out from rules that I don't think are 100% clear or consistent. Some places, one is "på", some "i", but I think one is "i" almost all cities.



I think the general rule is that places on the coast are "i", whereas places in the inland are "på", unless the name refers to something that you would typically be "inside", like a valley. (I Hallingdal, på Gol). But I'm sure there's lots of exceptions, and there's really no way to be certain of the correct preposition except by asking someone who lives there...


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## Grefsen

Alex_Murphy said:


> Icelandic's rule is that if it's a foreign city you have to use* í *otherwise it's possible to use both* á *and* í *for cities within the country (with some exceptions where you have to use *á*)
> 
> So I don't know the answer but I'd be interested to see if it was the same, in which case it'd be *í*, Lif í Oslo.
> I'm going on the judgement these letters are the same in both languages, I think they are, I've deduced from your *p**å  norsk *to be "in Norwegian" just like á islensku is for "in Icelandic" so I presume they both correspond.
> 
> [Edit] google:
> 
> Liv i Oslo = 68,000
> Liv på  Oslo = 473
> 
> Does this help?



*Tusen takk for det! * Yes, it does help *Alex.  

*I've done the same thing in the past where I compare several options by doing google searches to see which one gets the most results. 

*Ja,* *p**å  norsk *means "in Norwegian."  Since I'm also interested in learning Icelandic, I appreciate the information about * á islensku.*


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## Grefsen

oskhen said:


> It's "i", out from rules that I don't think are 100% clear or consistent. Some places, one is "på", some "i", but I think one is "i" almost all cities.



*Tusen takk for det oskhen.*  If I had to guess I would have gone with "i" instead of "på," but thought I would check here with the experts.   



oskhen said:


> By the way; If you plan to write about how life is in Oslo (for whoever), I would use "liv*et *i Oslo". That's the idiom.



*Tusen takk igjen oskhen.   *Since I do plan to write about how life is in Oslo I will use *"livet i Oslo"* for the title of my email.

BTW - do you know if it would it be the same for communities within a city?  For example would I write *"livet i Majorstua"* *og* *"livet i Grefsen"* eller *"livet **på Grünerløkka**"*?


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## Magb

Grefsen said:


> BTW - do you know if it would it be the same for communities within a city?  For example would I write *"livet i Majorstua"* *og* *"livet i Grefsen"* eller *"livet **på Grünerløkka**"*?



_På_ is normally used for smaller areas within cities, and this is true of all the examples you gave. An exception to this rule is when the area's name itself gives people reason to use _i_. For instance the area of Maridalen in Oslo requires _i_ because a _dal_ "valley" is something you're "in" rather than "on". Whether or not this exception kicks in is probably determined by the semantic transparency of the place name. You might expect Majorstua to also require _i_ since a _stue_ -- meaning roughly "storage room" or "living room" -- is also something you're _in_ rather than _on_, but it doesn't. The reason is probably that whereas Maridalen is actually a valley, Majorstua isn't really a "stue".


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## Grefsen

kirsitn said:


> The preposition i is correct, but I would say "livet i Oslo" because "liv i Oslo" makes me think that it's a woman called Liv who is in Oslo. You could say that "Det er mye liv i Oslo" (i.e. Oslo is a lively city), but I'm assuming you want to say something like "how is life in Oslo" or "Life in Oslo is great", and in that case you should use "livet", not "liv".



*Tusen takk for det kirsitn! *

These are very helpful comments.  



kirsitn said:


> I think the general rule is that places on the coast are "i", whereas places in the inland are "på", unless the name refers to something that you would typically be "inside", like a valley. (I Hallingdal, på Gol). But I'm sure there's lots of exceptions, and there's really no way to be certain of the correct preposition except by asking someone who lives there...



*Ogs**å t**usen takk for det kirsitn! *

These are also very helpful comments.  

With respect to (WRT) my previous post about communities within a city, are there any generally followed rules about using *"i" eller "**på**"*?

I just did several google searches and got the following results:

*"livet på Grünerløkka" = 40

"livet i Grünerløkka" = 0

"livet på Majorstua" = 2

"livet i Majorstua" = 0

"livet på Grefsen" = 2

"livet i Grefsen" = 0*

Since the results are so small for each of these searches perhaps there are some other options I need to consider.


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## Grefsen

Magb said:


> _På_ is normally used for smaller areas within cities, and this is true of all the examples you gave. An exception to this rule is when the area's name itself gives people reason to use _i_. For instance the area of Maridalen in Oslo requires _i_ because a _dal_ "valley" is something you're "in" rather than "on". Whether or not this exception kicks in is probably determined by the semantic transparency of the place name. You might expect Majorstua to also require _i_ since a _stue_ -- meaning roughly "storage room" or "living room" -- is also something you're _in_ rather than _on_, but it doesn't. The reason is probably that whereas Maridalen is actually a valley, Majorstua isn't really a "stue".



*Tusen takk* for this excellent explanation *Magb*!  

I just did a google search on the following:

*"på Majorstua" = 47,100

"i Majorstua" = 1,290

"på Grefsen" = 32,200

"i Grefsen" = 3,720*


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## oskhen

Magb said:


> You might expect Majorstua to also require _i_ since a _stue_ -- meaning roughly "storage room" or "living room"


 
Not that it really addresses the topic, but "stue" here presumably means "hut" or "cottage" (they're basically the same, aren't they?). I suppose the place is named after one such.


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## ermannoitaly

kirsitn said:


> I think the general rule is that places on the coast are "i", whereas places in the inland are "på", unless the name refers to something that you would typically be "inside", like a valley. (I Hallingdal, på Gol). But I'm sure there's lots of exceptions, and there's really no way to be certain of the correct preposition except by asking someone who lives there...



*Hei Kirsitn /// hei alle

* *Ja visst. Jeg er enig i at det er mange unntak.*

*Temaet er interessant, men ganske komplisert, etter min  mening.*
*Selvsagt er det bedre å sjekke/slå opp i norske ordbøker, men jeg har  inntrykk av at det er vanskelig å finne den riktige preposisjonen ("i eller  på").*
*F.eks. når det gjelder øyenes navn, er det ofte brukt preposisjonen "på "  :*
*......
** på Kanariøyene, **på Cuba, på Island, på Malta,  m m  *
*men med unntak av*
*I England, i Japan, i Ireland  etc....*

*--------------- *
*"i / på"  i forbindelse med ordet "øy" .*
*F.eks.hva med byen Troms/Tromsø ?*
*a) Troms ligger i/på en norsk øy. *
*b) ordet "ø" på dansk og "øy" på norsk betyr det samme, og jeg  oversetter  til engelsk som "isle".*
*Derfor lurer jeg på om uttrykket "Jeg bor i Troms" kan bli/være mulig.
*
*På Internett har jeg sett at nordmenn bruker  både " i Tromsø" og "på  Tromsøya."*
*-------*

*Siden norsk ikke er morsmålet mitt, vær så snill å korrigere meg......
*
*-------
Takk for oppmerksomheten.
*
*Mvh*
*Ciao*
*Ermanno *


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## dinji

ermannoitaly said:


> *Selvsagt er det bedre å sjekke/slå opp i norske ordbøker, men jeg har inntrykk av at det er vanskelig å finne den riktige preposisjonen ("i eller på").*
> *F.eks. når det gjelder øyenes navn, er det ofte brukt preposisjonen "på " :*
> *......*
> *på Kanariøyene, **på Cuba, på Island, på Malta, m m *
> *men med unntak av*
> *I England, i Japan, i Ireland etc....*
> 
> *--------------- *


Det bør heita "i Island" fordi Island er ein stat, ikke berre ei øy.


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## kirsitn

ermannoitaly said:


> *F.eks.hva med byen Troms/Tromsø ?*
> *a) Troms ligger i/på en norsk øy. *
> *b) ordet "ø" på dansk og "øy" på norsk betyr det samme, og jeg  oversetter  til engelsk som "isle".*
> *Derfor lurer jeg på om uttrykket "Jeg bor i Troms" kan bli/være mulig.
> *
> *På Internett har jeg sett at nordmenn bruker  både " i Tromsø" og "på  Tromsøya."*



Alle uttrykkene er riktige, men de betyr forskjellige ting.
"Jeg bor i Troms" betyr at du bor i Troms fylke.
"Jeg bor i Tromsø" betyr at du bor i byen Tromsø.
"Jeg bor på Tromsøya" betyr at du bor i Tromsø på selve øya (og ikke f.eks. på Kvaløysletta eller i Tromsdalen som begge tilhører Tromsø, men ikke ligger på selve Tromsøya.)


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## kirsitn

dinji said:


> Det bør heita "i Island" fordi Island er ein stat, ikke berre ei øy.



Cuba er også en stat, og det heter likevel "på Cuba" og ikke "i Cuba", så jeg tror regelen om at man er "på" ei øy gjelder nokså uavhengig av om øya er et eget land eller ei.


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## oskhen

kirsitn said:


> Cuba er også en stat, og det heter likevel "på Cuba" og ikke "i Cuba", så jeg tror regelen om at man er "på" ei øy gjelder nokså uavhengig av om øya er et eget land eller ei.


 
Det heter vel også "på Madagaskar"? Jeg tror at, trass i en del retningslinjer, så har det mest av alt med sedvane å gjøre


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## ermannoitaly

kirsitn said:


> Alle uttrykkene er riktige, men de betyr forskjellige ting.
> "Jeg bor i Troms" betyr at du bor i Troms fylke.
> "Jeg bor i Tromsø" betyr at du bor i byen Tromsø.
> "Jeg bor på Tromsøya" betyr at du bor i Tromsø på selve øya (og ikke f.eks. på Kvaløysletta eller i Tromsdalen som begge tilhører Tromsø, men ikke ligger på selve Tromsøya.)


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Hei Kirsitn
Takk for forklaringen. Perfekt og helt riktig. Alt er klart om Tromsø, nå.
Ciao
Mvh
Ermanno


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