Learn About Prepositions in Norwegian Part 3

Prepositions are something that tell us where one thing or person is in relation to another thing or person.

If you don’t know what prepositions in Norwegian are, you should begin by reading:

1. Learn About Prepositions in Norwegian Part 1
2. Learn About Prepositions in Norwegian Part 2

Let’s learn about some prepositions that tell about the place where someone or something is or goes. In the last post, we learnt about the preposition i. This lesson focuses on the preposition på.

Prepositions in Norwegian are one of the most confusing aspects of the language. I was still am confused about when to use which one of them. Take the example of på which seems to get used as the English (on, in, at, to). Also you need to use i or på depending on where you are. So you just need to memorize when to use which one.

Norwegian	English
Jeg er i teatret.	I am in the theater.
Jeg er på toalettet.	I am in the toilet.

Let’s learn how på is used in some of the Norwegian phrases.

Norwegian	English
Hun bor på Island.	She lives in Iceland.
Jeg er på landet.	I am in the countryside.
Jeg er på fjellet.	I am on the mountain.
Hun er på skolen.	She is at the school.
Jeg er på kino.	I am at the cinema.
Hun er på restauranten.	She is at the restaurant.
Jeg er på kontoret.	I am at the office.
Hun er på jobben.	She is at work.
Jeg er på fabrikken.	I am at the factory.
Hun er på biblioteket.	She is at the library.
Jeg er på badet.	I am in the bathroom.
Hun er på toalettet.	She is in the toilet.
Jeg skal på landet.	I am going to the country.
Hun skal på fjellet.	She is going to the mountain.
Jeg skal på skolen.  Jeg skal gå på skolen.	I am going to the school.  I am going to attend the school.
Hun skal på kinoen.	She is going to the movies.
Jeg skal på kontoret.	I am going to the office.
Jeg traff ham på toget.	I met him on the train.
Jeg kan treffe deg på bussen.	I can meet you on the bus.

 

Some very useful tips by lubutu.

(Traff implies you just happened to bump into each other, whereas møtte implies you organised the meeting.)

To summarise:

• Use på where you’d say “on” or “at” in English: «Jeg er på fjellet.» «Hun er på skolen.»
• Use på for rooms, whereas in English you’d say “in”: «Jeg er på badet.»
• Use på for islands, just as you’d say “I live on the Faroe Islands”: «Jeg bor på Færøyene.» Iceland is an island, so på is used, even though in English we’d use “in”.
• In general use i wherever else you’d use “in”, with some exceptions like «Jeg er på landet.»

Note that you’d say «Jeg er på teatret» to mean “I’m at the theatre,” but if for example a friend was waiting for you outside, they might ask «Hvor er du?» and you would say, «Jeg er i teatret.» — “I’m in the theatre.”