# Norwegian: nok



## mezzoforte

Can someone enlighten me on the usage of *nok*?  (There are there modifying adverbs too, like *da, jo, vel, nå, sikkert*.)

It seems to be an indication of being cautious in saying something....

thank you


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## oskhen

mezzoforte said:


> Can someone enlighten me on the usage of *nok*?  (There are there modifying adverbs too, like *da, jo, vel, nå, sikkert*.)
> 
> It seems to be an indication of being cautious in saying something....
> 
> thank you



It could be use in the way you say, but often it's "false" - i.e one use "nok" in a statement to make it sound less absolute, more cautious, while one actually is stating something (one thinks) there's no (or almost no) doubt about.

"Nok" may also mean "enough" - and probably other things as well.


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## Cerb

It works the same way as "probably" as far as I can tell (except when it's used in the meaning of "enough" ofc). 

"Jeg ville nok.. " - "I'd probably.. "
"Det er nok.. " - "It's probably.."
and so on..


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## mezzoforte

What about *nok* in these phrases?
"De vil nok like seg i Norge."
"Han spiser nok maten når han bli sulten."

Does *nok* always indicate some uncertainty/doubt, or can it indicate certainty?


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## kirsitn

I'd translate "nok" here as "I'm sure".

I'm sure they'll like it in Norway.
I'm sure he'll eat the food when he gets hungry.


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## mezzoforte

why is that?


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## Grefsen

oskhen said:


> It could be use*d* in the way you say, but often it's "false" - i.e one use*d* (use*s*) "nok" in a statement to make it sound less absolute, more cautious, while one actually is stating something (one thinks) there's no (or almost no) doubt about.





oskhen said:


> "Nok" may also mean "enough" - and probably other things as well.


Here are the translations for *"nok"* given by *tritrans.net:*

a little, closing, closure, end, enough, some, to some extend




mezzoforte said:


> What about *nok* in these phrases?
> "De vil nok like seg i Norge."
> "Han spiser nok maten når han bli sulten."


*Tusen takk* to everyone for their good input. 

Prior to reading this thread, my translation for the second sentence would have been "He eats enough food when he becomes hungry."


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## mezzoforte

Grefsen said:


> Here are the translations for *"nok"* given by *tritrans.net:*
> 
> a little, closing, closure, end, enough, some, to some exten*t*



That is slightly confusing.... I think I understand *nok* as meaning uncertainty or hesitancy.  "closing, end" don't make sense to me.


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## vestfoldlilja

Some sentences that might help 

Han er nok ganske trøtt – He’s probably quite tired.

Det er nok – That’s enough. (Example 1: used when trying to get children to behave, for them to end a certain behavior.) (Example 2: used to make people stop nagging, or pushing you to do something you don’t want to.) 

Det er nok is a common expression, one that means the same is det holder. Hold opp – stop that, det holder – that’s enough. 

Det er nok det hun mener – That’s probably what she means.

Det er nok ikke så enkelt – It’s probably not that simple (as in I’m afraid it’s not that simple). 

Det er nok det han vil – I’m sure that’s what he wants.

Det er nok ikke værre en det – I’m sure it’s not worse than that.


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## Cerb

Stressing "er" or not is actually what makes the difference between "enough" and "I'm sure"/"probably". There might be a difference in tone as well, but it's very hard to detect. It might be because tone comes naturally to me as a native speaker, but getting it wrong would hardly be noticeable (if there even is a difference in tone to begin with). In Vestfoldliljas examples we have:

Det er nok(!) - That's enough(!) (literally "it's enough")
Det er nok.. - It's probably.. /I'm sure..

As for "closing" and "end" I can't really make sense of that either. There might be some expression I can't think of right now where it might make sense, but I wouldn't really worry about it. Even though tritrans normally gets the job done it has given me translations that are outright wrong.

Both "nok" and "sikkert", which is a more literal translation of "I'm sure" ("jeg er sikker på at.. )", can be used to reassure someone, but "I'm sure" is the only one that really works for that purpose in English.


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## mezzoforte

Sorry, but can "*Det er nok det han vil*" mean both:
"_*It's probably what he wants*_"
"_*It's surely what he wants*_"?

Or how else do we say/distinguish these two phrases?  Are _*sure* _and _*probable*_ the same concept in Norwegian?  It is _kind of_ like that in English, when we say:
"_*I'm sure (he won't mind),*_"
we're not really sure, we just mean it's _*probably true*_.  It's sort of an idiom/colloquialism/lie.


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## Tommeliten

mezzoforte said:


> Sorry, but can "*Det er nok det han vil*" mean both:
> "_*It's probably what he wants*_"
> "_*It's surely what he wants*_"?
> 
> Or how else do we say/distinguish these two phrases? Are _*sure* _and _*probable*_ the same concept in Norwegian? It is _kind of_ like that in English, when we say:
> "_*I'm sure (he won't mind),*_"
> we're not really sure, we just mean it's _*probably true*_. It's sort of an idiom/colloquialism/lie.


I think you can replace "nok" with both "helt sikkert/ganske sikkert/antagelig". It means that you are a little unclear about your expectation when you use this "nok", but you express at least that to a (unknown) extent you expect him to want it.


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## missTK

I think you could consider it a sort of "assumption marker". It indicates that the speaker is assuming something, but not how sure he is of being right. Therefore you get the range from "probably" to "I'm sure". Like in English, saying "I'm sure" doesn't always mean 100% scientific certainty.


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## oskhen

One use of "nok" I tried, but probably failed, to comment on earlier, is similar to one use of the English "I'm afraid...".

If, for instance, you're bringing bad news, it's fairly common to use "nok", as in "Du har nok tapt de pengene" - which can be translated as "I'm afraid you've lost that money", and can be used even if the speaker knows it to be the case, and not only assumes so (even though it can be used in both cases).


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## mezzoforte

oskhen said:


> One use of "nok" I tried, but probably failed, to comment on earlier, is similar to one use of the English "I'm afraid...".
> 
> If, for instance, you're bringing bad news, it's fairly common to use "nok", as in "Du har nok tapt de pengene" - which can be translated as "I'm afraid you've lost that money", and can be used even if the speaker knows it to be the case, and not only assumes so (even though it can be used in both cases).



Okay.  Also, I noticed you say *de pengene*.  That sounds weird to me, because I think of money as uncountable and wouldn't say _*those moneys*_.


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## kirsitn

I thought money was all about counting how much you've got? 

But I guess you're right that money is an uncountable noun in many languages, including English, but in Norwegian it's perfectly countable.


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