Hver dag / hverdag / stor by / storby - what's the difference?

This post can also be listened to in its full and original version here:

Some of the content from the audio version has been cut out in the written post as I went a bit off-topic. ;)

Have you ever wondered about what the deal with compound words is? And when I say compound words, in this blogpost I will be talking about nouns that are made up of several words, but there are other kinds of compound words as well.

When it comes to compound nouns, it can consist of two nouns, but it can also be an adjective and a noun, maybe a preposition and a noun, an adverb and a noun. It can be basically everything and a noun.

The first thing I want to talk about is when you have two nouns. When you make a compound noun with two (or more) nouns, you're trying to use the first noun(s) as an adjective for the following noun. So you're describing the the following noun with that noun.

For instance, when I say “barneskole” (primary school or “child school”, as we call it) the main word is “skole”, and then “barn” is there to tell you which kind of school you're talking about. So it has more or less the same function as an adjective would, defining which kind of school we are talking about.

Or if I say “barnebok”, “bok” would be the main word, and “barne” would come there and tell you which kind of book you're talking about. If you separate them, then that means that you're talking about two separate things and you would need to put a comma or a connecting word between them.

Another thing that happens is that I put an “e” in between the two words. That's not always the case for all compound words. Sometimes it might be nothing in between, and sometimes it might be an “s”. As a general rule, I would say that we put nothing in between. I'm not going to go into the details about when to put a connecting letter between, and when not. It’s a complex topic that Norwegians struggle with, and there are many grammar books that can help you with that (to some extent).

What I wanted to talk to you about today is when you make compound words and the word in the beginning is not a noun.

Okay? So the examples I gave you were “hver dag”, every day. I put my stress in the beginning of each word, “hver dag”, every day. And then you have “hverdag”, everyday.

When I make it in one word, then my tone is rising all the time, and I don't put a lot of stress in the beginning of the second word. And there is a difference in meaning.

In general, when there are two options (when you can write it in two words or one word) the compund version gets a more specific meaning that is slightly or very different from what the two words mean when separated by a space.

“Hver dag” in two words would mean “every day”.

“Hverdag” in one word means everyday life or a normal day, a working day. It's not a holiday for instance. A day when nothing special happens. Depending on the context, “hverdag” can also mean not weekend. So, for instance, a store would say that it's open on “hverdager”, which means not during the weekend or not on Sundays and holidays.

I would, for instance, say “i hverdagen”. That would mean in “everyday life”. I could also say i “hverdagslivet, literally in everyday life.

And then we have the word “storby”, which is different from “stor by”, big city. They both have something to do with big city. But when I put the words together, it gets a little bit more precise.

Because what is actually a big city? That's very relative, right? We could say that Oslo is a big city. “Oslo er en stor by”. At least in Norway.

But maybe not on an international scale. “Storby” in one word means a city that is considered a big city on an international level. So I would say London is a “storby”.Tokyo is a storby. There has to be many million people living there.

Maybe every city that is considered a big city with an important international airport would be a “storby” in one word.

Another example is “blåbær”, blueberry. In English, you also have it in one word. If I say “blå bær” in two words, then it means just “blue berries”. Berries that are blue. There are many kinds of blue berries.

Blåbær, with a rising tone all the way,that is for a specific kind.

So you see it's more specific. It's not any berry that is blue, but it's that kind that is small and round and blue. And very sweet.

Norwegians sometimes have problems with this. First of all, because when words are put together as one word, then the pronunciation is different. And sometimes we do pronounce several words after each other as if it was one word. You can hear more about this in the audio clip :)

I hope that helps. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or questions :)

Vi snakkes!

Silje