# Norwegian: Som



## sjiraff

Hi all,

Well as you can see from the title it doesn't really tell much about what I'm asking, but I'll give a quote as an example to show:

Du er heldig som har den drakten! 

Now I gather from it that it means "you're lucky to have that suit/outfit" but, I'm wondering exactly why that it is "som"? When I think on it "Du er heldig å ha den.." sounds kind of bad, but I'm not sure when the word "som" is used this way entirely, or in what other circumstances it's used this way.

I mean, if you say "Jeg er lykkelig for å være her" rather than "Jeg er lykkelig som er her" - what exactly is the rule to say "som" where in English we would just say "to..." (followed by the verb) in both situations of "you're lucky to have that" or "i'm happy to be here"

Hope you are all well!
Thanks


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## NorwegianNYC

You are mistaken, I am afraid. "Som" is a relative pronoun, equal to "that", "who" or "which".
_Du er heldig som har den bilen_ = You are fortunate that/who has that car
_Jeg er lykkerlig som er her_ = I am fortunate that/who is here


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## sjiraff

NorwegianNYC said:


> You are mistaken, I am afraid. "Som" is a relative pronoun, equal to "that", "who" or "which".
> _Du er heldig som har den bilen_ = You are fortunate that/who has that car
> _Jeg er lykkerlig som er her_ = I am fortunate that/who is here



But I mean, since in English that doesn't make any sense, is the meaning in this case "*to have* that car"? I'm not really sure why this is said to be honest! If someone had asked me what "Du er heldig som har den drakten" meant in English I wouldn't say it means "you're lucky who has it", if you know what I mean.

Thanks!


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## NorwegianNYC

You have to extract a relative meaning from it. If I say that "Du er heldig som har den bilen" in a word-by-word translation is _you are fortunate who has that car_, you sort of have to create an English equivalent based on your understanding of it. One option is: _you are lucky to have that car_, but this is only one approxmiation


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## Ben Jamin

sjiraff said:


> Hi all,
> 
> Well as you can see from the title it doesn't really tell much about what I'm asking, but I'll give a quote as an example to show:
> 
> Du er heldig som har den drakten!
> 
> Now I gather from it that it means "you're lucky to have that suit/outfit" but, I'm wondering exactly why that it is "som"? When I think on it "Du er heldig å ha den.." sounds kind of bad, but I'm not sure when the word "som" is used this way entirely, or in what other circumstances it's used this way.
> 
> I mean, if you say "Jeg er lykkelig for å være her" rather than "Jeg er lykkelig som er her" - what exactly is the rule to say "som" where in English we would just say "to..." (followed by the verb) in both situations of "you're lucky to have that" or "i'm happy to be here"
> 
> Hope you are all well!
> Thanks


You will perhaps be able to understand the expression if you change the word order: "*Du, som har denne drakten, er heldig." Even if this word order is unidiomatic, it can visualize the role of "som". Remember that English and Norwegian use completely different syntactic means in the sentences we speak about, and single words don't correspond to each other.


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## sjiraff

Ben Jamin said:


> You will perhaps be able to understand the expression if you change the word order: "*Du, som har denne drakten, er heldig."



Ahhh I see, well that puts it in perspective now. 
So does this mean you would also say something like, "Du er heldig som klarte å komme i tide" to mean "you're lucky you came in time"?

Thanks!


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## Ben Jamin

sjiraff said:


> Ahhh I see, well that puts it in perspective now.
> So does this mean you would also say something like, "Du er heldig *som *klarte å komme i tide" to mean "you're lucky you came in time"?
> 
> Thanks!


Or "You are lucky because you came in time", or in unidiomatic English "You, *who *came in time, are lucky"


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## sjiraff

Ben Jamin said:


> Or "You are lucky because you came in time", or in unidiomatic English "You, *who *came in time, are lucky"


So that is a fairly natural sounding way to say "you're lucky you came in time"?

I guess it sort of fills the gap for linking a verb to an adjective. I was trying to sort of think when else something would be said in that way, but I can only really think of using it when you're saying someone is "lucky" they did or have something

Thanks!


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## raumar

sjiraff said:


> So that is a fairly natural sounding way to say "you're lucky you came in time"?



That's right, "Du er heldig som klarte å komme i tide" is absolutely natural. It is easy to find other examples:

Du er snill som hjelper meg med dette.
Du er sterk som klarer å løfte den steinen.
Han er dum som ikke skjønner dette.

And so on. As Ben Jamin pointed out, your original English sentences can't be translated directly, word by word. It is necessary to rephrase these sentences. "Som" will often be useful, but there are sometimes other possibilities - as your example "Jeg er lykkelig for å være her" shows.


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## sjiraff

raumar said:


> That's right, "Du er heldig som klarte å komme i tide" is absolutely natural. It is easy to find other examples:
> 
> Du er snill som hjelper meg med dette.
> Du er sterk som klarer å løfte den steinen.
> Han er dum som ikke skjønner dette.
> 
> And so on. As Ben Jamin pointed out, your original English sentences can't be translated directly, word by word. It is necessary to rephrase these sentences. "Som" will often be useful, but there are sometimes other possibilities - as your example "Jeg er lykkelig for å være her" shows.



Got it! I think previously I would have just said things like "Det er snilt av deg at du hjelper meg" or some way around it, but now this is clear it makes a lot of sense.

Thanks!


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## raumar

Yes, but there is nothing wrong with  "Det er snilt av deg at du hjelper meg". Or even better (shorter and simpler): "Det er snilt av deg å hjelpe meg".

There might be a slight difference in meaning. If you say "Du er snill som ..", you characterize the person. If you say "Det er snilt av deg ..." you just characterize the act.


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