# Norwegian: "siden" eller "som"



## mimica

Hei til alle!

Jeg lurer på at det er bedre å skrive "siden" eller "som" i denne sentingen:

"Jeg er ikke redd å prøve en ny jobb i et nytt land, siden(som) jeg er alltid åpne for å lære nye ferdigheter"

Hva er bedre?

Tusen takk!


----------



## TrampGuy

I'm pretty sure "siden" is the only​ sensible option you get (between these two). As I'm not a native speaker, I can't promise it's the best option over all.
It works pretty similar to English, you're looking for a word that would explain a cause. Therefore words like since (siden) and/or because (fordi) should fit pretty good.


----------



## basslop

You are correct TrampGuy


----------



## TrampGuy

Thanks basslop


----------



## Eskil

mimica said:


> Hva er bedre?



Her vil man på norsk helst si: "Hva er best?" (ikke "bedre")
For øvrig slutter jeg meg til Tramp Guy: "siden" er det eneste som fungerer i denne setningen


----------



## Bobleplast

Jeg ville ha skrevet:
Jeg er ikke redd å prøve å jobbe i et nytt land, da jeg alltid er åpen for å lære nye ferdigheter.


----------



## bicontinental

Bobleplast said:


> Jeg ville ha skrevet:
> Jeg er ikke redd å prøve å jobbe i et nytt land, da jeg alltid er åpen for å lære nye ferdigheter.



@Bobleplast: I noticed you changed the word order in the dependent clause: "...da jeg _alltid_ er...", (which is the word order I find natural in Danish as well). Is the other word order used in modern Norwegian, conj. after the finite verb, i.e. "...da jeg er _alltid_..."? 
@ mimica: you mention "som", which wouldn't work unless you add "etter": "ettersom" (other synonyms include: da (post# 8), fordi, i og med at, idet)


----------



## henbjo

@bicontinental: No, the word order you know from Danish is the same one we use here. However, I have a suggestion as to how I would most naturally express the content of the original sentence, that incidentally uses the other word order:

"Jeg er ikke redd for å prøve å jobbe i et nytt land, for jeg er alltid åpen for å ..."

The reason for the word order here is that _for_ used as a conjunction only connects complete sentences. This construction is very common in modern Norwegian, spoken as well as written. 

On a different note, I'm not sure about the last part of the phrase "lære nye ferdigheter". To me, skills ("ferdigheter") are not just learned, but rather developed over time. Perhaps "ny lærdom" or "nye erfaringer" are suitable alternatives?

"Jeg er ikke redd for å prøve å jobbe i et nytt land, for jeg er alltid åpen for ny lærdom."

On yet a different note, the word _da_ as a conjunction when describing a cause ("..., da jeg alltid er...") is seldom used verbally, but often used in more formal written Norwegian. This use strikes me as a bit old fashioned, and for that reason I'd be interested to hear how this is used in Danish. Anyone?  The more regular alternatives to _da_ in this context are _fordi_ and _siden_ in spoken language, and _ettersom _is commonly used in written language.


----------



## NorwegianNYC

*Siden*, *da* and *for* are similar, but not identical. *Siden* = since and *da* = as are more or less intercahngeable, but *siden* is the only one that can be used in referrence to time (and therefore often refers to 'following this') and *da* ofter refers to the consequence of an action. *For* = because related to the reason something takes place


----------



## henbjo

I know they're not identical - words seldom are - but what I was trying to get at is that *da* used as a conjunction in reference to a cause or consequence is very much _not_ colloquial Norwegian, at least not in eastern Norway/the Oslo area. Even though the words are not exactly the same, *da* does not fill a void that the other words can't be used to describe. As I stated quite clearly in my previous post, *da* is usually interchangeable with *siden*, *fordi* and *ettersom*. _*For*_ is a whole different story, ref. my post above.

The reason I took the time to write the post above is that I think it is very important not having people trying their best to learn Norwegian confuse constructions mostly found in more formal written Norwegian with how most Norwegians would express the same thing verbally. There is quite a big difference.


----------



## NorwegianNYC

Hey henbjo! I was simply trying to lay out a few general guidelines and point out the differences between siden, da and for (fordi) from a linguistic point of view. Personally, I cannot recollect anyone actually using 'da' in spoken language, and even if 'siden' can be used, it is also fairly rare in terms of spoken language for other than time expressions.

I was not contraticting you, I was adding to your post!


----------

