# Norwegian: Henrik Wergeland Event



## Grefsen

Earlier this month there were a series of special events here in Southern California to celebrate the 200th birthday of the Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland.  I've been asked to email some digital pictures to one of the main organizers of *Wergeland2008 *in Oslo and I wanted to title the email:

"Pictures from the Henrik Wergeland Event"

I would like to attempt to write this title* p**å  norsk, *but have only gotten as far as *"Bild fra Henrik Wergeland" *since I'm not sure what the translation for "event" would be in this example*.  *Here are the different options given by the* ordbok *I checked:*

begivenhet, hendelse, innslag, øvelse*

*P**å* *forhånd takk for hjelpen*!


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## oskhen

Grefsen said:


> Earlier this month there were a series of special events here in Southern California to celebrate the 200th birthday of the Norwegian poet Henrik Wergeland. I've been asked to email some digital pictures to one of the main organizers of *Wergeland2008 *in Oslo and I wanted to title the email:
> 
> "Pictures from the Henrik Wergeland Event"
> 
> I would like to attempt to write this title* p**å norsk, *but have only gotten as far as *"Bild fra Henrik Wergeland" *since I'm not sure what the translation for "event" would be in this example*. *Here are the different options given by the* ordbok *I checked:
> 
> *begivenhet, hendelse, innslag, øvelse*
> 
> *P**å* *forhånd takk for hjelpen*!


 
In this case, I think I would use "arrangementet". And it's "bild*er*", by the way.


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## Grefsen

oskhen said:


> In this case, I think I would use "arrangementet". And it's "bild*er*", by the way.



*Tusen takk for hjelpen oskhen. *  I ended up using *"Bilder fra Henrik Wergeland Arrangementet"* as my subject title.  

Back in one of the first formal Norwegian classes I ever took I recall that there was a discussion about most one syllable "et" nouns not changing when you form the plural so that is why I got in the habit of using *bild *instead of *bilder* for the translation of "pictures." 
 
I'm curious about the other four translations that the *ordbok* I used gave for "event" and am wondering when it would be appropriate to use these words? 

*begivenhet, hendelse, innslag, øvelse*


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## kirsitn

The way I see it...

begivenhet = event, happening (usually something positive)
hendelse = incident (can be positive, but more often neutral or negative)
innslag =  "light entertainment happening in between something else" (my dictionary suggests "feature")
øvelse = rehearsal, routine (physical exercize)


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## oskhen

Grefsen said:


> *Tusen takk for hjelpen oskhen. * I ended up using *"Bilder fra Henrik Wergeland Arrangementet"* as my subject title.


 
Perhaps I should have mentioned it, but it should be written like this 
"Henrik Wergeland-arrangementet" (I think).


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## Lemminkäinen

oskhen said:


> Perhaps I should have mentioned it, but it should be written like this
> "Henrik Wergeland-arrangementet" (I think).



Yes, that would be the accepted spelling.



Grefsen said:


> Back in one of the first formal Norwegian classes I ever took I recall that there was a discussion about most one syllable "et" nouns not changing when you form the plural so that is why I got in the habit of using *bild *instead of *bilder* for the translation of "pictures."



If you look up bilde in the useful Bokmålsordboka, you'll see that it's a "n[euter]2" word, and so has the indefinite plural ending -er, according to the table that explains the codes.


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## Grefsen

oskhen said:


> Perhaps I should have mentioned it, but it should be written like this
> "Henrik Wergeland-arrangementet" (I think).





Lemminkäinen said:


> Yes, that would be the accepted spelling.



*Tusen takk for hjelpen!* 

I'm planning to send another email soon that discusses several "Henrik Wergeland events" and was wondering what the plural of *"Henrik Wergeland-arrangementet" *would be?

I would also like to receive more of an explanation of why the hyphen needs to be used between *Wergeland og arrangementet.  *I've seen hyphens used like this before *på norsk* and have always been a bit confused about this. 

*P**å* *forhånd takk*!


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## Pteppic

*Henrik Wergeland-arrangement(er)* / *Henrik Wergeland-arrangementene* (the -er ending in the indefinite form is optional)

I don't know if this is the accepted reason for the use of the hyphen in cases like this, but the way I've rationalised in my mind is that *Henrik Wergeland* and *arrangement* have to be connected in some way (in the same way that the words "red" and "head" should be connected to describe someone with red hair). However, since there is a name involved in the expression, that puts limitations on how you can express that connection. The most common practice of writing words together doesn't work with names ("*HenrikWergelandarrangement*" ), so you leave the name as it is, and connect the last name to the main noun with a hyphen. This tends to happen even if you leave out the first name (*Wergeland-arrangement*, *Hansen-familien*), although there are exceptions, such as the name of the road *Wergelandsveien* in Oslo. I'm sure someone else has a firmer grasp on the official rules, though


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## Grefsen

Pteppic said:


> *Henrik Wergeland-arrangement(er)* / *Henrik Wergeland-arrangementene* (the -er ending in the indefinite form is optional)



*Tusen takk Pteppic* for your very clear explanation about the reason why a hyphen needs to be used in this example.  

Initially I had just one picture I was sending so it is clear to me that *Bilder fra Henrik Wergeland-arrangementet* was an appropriate subject title to use for this email.  

Now I have several pictures that I want to send that were taken from two different Henrik Wergeland events (out of a total of three).  I would like to write "Pictures from the Henrik Wergeland events" *på norsk *as my subject title so would I use *Henrik Wergeland-arrangementer* *eller* *Henrik Wergeland-arrangementene* (or perhaps either option is acceptable to use in my particular example)?

*P**å** forhånd takk**!*


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## oskhen

Grefsen said:


> Now I have several pictures that I want to send that were taken from two different Henrik Wergeland events (out of a total of three). I would like to write "Pictures from the Henrik Wergeland events" *på norsk *as my subject title so would I use *Henrik Wergeland-arrangementer* *eller* *Henrik Wergeland-arrangementene* (or perhaps either option is acceptable to use in my particular example)?


 
Technically, you could use both. Just ask yourself if you, in English, would write "pictures from Henrik Wergeland events" - in which case you should use your first suggestion - or if you would write "pictures from the Henrik Wergeland events", in which case you should use your last suggestion.


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## Grefsen

oskhen said:


> Technically, you could use both. Just ask yourself if you, in English, would write "pictures from Henrik Wergeland events" - in which case you should use your first suggestion - or if you would write "pictures from the Henrik Wergeland events", in which case you should use your last suggestion.



*Tusen takk oskhen* for another excellent explanation! 

I now think that *Bilder fra Henrik Wergeland-arrangementer* is actually the best option to use for an email title in my particular example.  Since  I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera to one of the events  , the pictures are from two out three events and not all of "the" events. 

However, if I was going to write a complete sentence instead of an email title, then something like "Here are some pictures from two of the Henrik Wergeland events." would be more appropriate.  Would the following be an acceptable translation of this?

*Her er noen bilder fra to av* *Henrik Wergeland-arrangementene.*


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## oskhen

Grefsen said:


> *Tusen takk oskhen* for another excellent explanation!
> 
> I now think that *Bilder fra Henrik Wergeland-arrangementer* is actually the best option to use for an email title in my particular example. Since I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera to one of the events  , the pictures are from two out three events and not all of "the" events.
> 
> However, if I was going to write a complete sentence instead of an email title, then something like "Here are some pictures from two of the Henrik Wergeland events." would be more appropriate. Would the following be an acceptable translation of this?
> 
> *Her er noen bilder fra to av* *Henrik Wergeland-arrangementene.*


 
Yes, that would be an excellent sentence! Very good!


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## Grefsen

oskhen said:


> Yes, that would be an excellent sentence! Very good!



*Tusen takk* for such positive feedback.  **



kirsitn said:


> The way I see it...
> 
> begivenhet = event, happening (usually something positive)
> hendelse = incident (can be positive, but more often neutral or negative)
> innslag =  "light entertainment happening in between something else" (my dictionary suggests "feature")
> øvelse = rehearsal, routine (physical exercize)



Could someone please give me an example or two so that I can better understand when it would be appropriate to use *begivenhet *instead of *arrangementet*?

*P**å* *forhånd takk! * **


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## kirsitn

Arrangement means something that has been arranged/planned (festival, concert, public party, football match etc.). Begivenhet is something positive that happens, and that may or may not have been planned. A successful concert would be both arrangement and begivenhet, whereas the birth of a child might be called a begivenhet, but not arrangement.


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## Grefsen

kirsitn said:


> Arrangement means something that has been arranged/planned (festival, concert, public party, football match etc.). Begivenhet is something positive that happens, and that may or may not have been planned. A successful concert would be both arrangement and begivenhet, whereas the birth of a child might be called a begivenhet, but not arrangement.



*Tusen takk* for another excellent explanation *kirsitn.*   I really appreciate the good examples you have given.  

If an *arrangement *turns out to be much more successful than expected, could you then use *begivenhet* to refer to it? For example, if a crowd of only 50 was expected for a planned *Wergeland-arrangement*, but instead a standing room only crowd of 250 attended, could you then refer to this 'event' as the *Wergeland begivenhet*?


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## aaspraak

I don't think I'd use *Wergeland-begivenheten* to refer directly to a planned event, but I might write something like *Wergeland-arrangementet ble en (stor) begivenhet. *


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## Grefsen

aaspraak said:


> I don't think I'd use *Wergeland-begivenheten* to refer directly to a planned event, but I might write something like *Wergeland-arrangementet ble en (stor) begivenhet. *



*Tusen takk for kjempefin eksempel aaspraak. 
*


kirsitn said:


> The way I see it...
> 
> begivenhet = event, happening (usually something positive)
> hendelse = incident (can be positive, but more often neutral or negative)
> innslag =  "light entertainment happening in between something else" (my dictionary suggests "feature")
> øvelse = rehearsal, routine (physical exercize)



I'm still not clear about the proper use of *'innslag'  *and after consulting one of my* norsk ordb**øk**er* I'm even more confused. 

Here were the results:

1. element, leaven, strain

2. weft, woof.

3. flap (of a book).

In any event, I would appreciate an example of when* 'innslag' *would be used instead of *'arrangement.'  *

*På forhand takk!*


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## oskhen

Grefsen said:


> *Tusen takk for kjempefin eksempel aaspraak. *
> 
> 
> I'm still not clear about the proper use of *'innslag' *and after consulting one of my* norsk ordb**øk**er* I'm even more confused.
> 
> Here were the results:
> 
> 1. element, leaven, strain
> 
> 2. weft, woof.
> 
> 3. flap (of a book).
> 
> In any event, I would appreciate an example of when* 'innslag' *would be used instead of *'arrangement.' *
> 
> *På forhand takk!*


 
I would say that "Innslag" is mainly used of a spesific part of some kind of show or the like. For instance, in the news, each story could be called an "innslag", especially if it's of some length with interviews or whatever. In a concert, every song could also be called an "Innslag", though perhaps primarily if there are different bands/artists.

Hope this wasn't very confusing. But anyway, I can't think of any instances where "innslag" could be used instead of "arrangement". It could, however, in many instances be used of a part of an "arrangement".


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## Grefsen

A friend of mine was scheduled to read one of *Henrik Wergeland's* poems at the opening of a new municipal hall *(åpningen av den nye kommunestyresalen)* today.  Here is the message I received from her:
*Henrik Wergelands dikt "Det berfriede Europa" leses av meg og fra flygelet vil det strømme toner av Edward Grieg spilt av eminente Dag Stokke.*

I would like to write back to her the following message *på norsk:*

I hope the Henrik Wergeland poetry reading went well at the event today.  

Should I use *"arrangementet" *for "the event" in this example?

*Mitt forsøk:

Jeg håper at Henrik Wergeland diktopplesning gikk bra på arrangementet i dag.  *


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## vestfoldlilja

Grefsen said:


> Should I use *"arrangementet" *for "the event" in this example?[/B]




I don’t think using _arrangementet_ is needed. 

I would just say; Jeg håper (at) Henrik Wergeland (dikt)opplesningen din gikk bra i dag. 

The words inside the () can be dropped in my opinion without changing the meaning of the sentence.


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## Grefsen

vestfoldlilja said:


> I don’t think using _arrangementet_ is needed.
> 
> I would just say; Jeg håper (at) Henrik Wergeland (dikt)opplesningen din gikk bra i dag.
> 
> The words inside the () can be dropped in my opinion without changing the meaning of the sentence.


*Tusen takk for det! *

Your suggestion is much more direct and to the point.  I really appreciate your help.


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