#3 "Å pleie å" - how you actually use it (English can be a false friend) [vokabular]

The Norwegian verb "å pleie" differs significantly from the English "used to" despite seeming like a direct translation. This episode breaks down how to correctly use this verb for habitual actions in Norwegian, avoiding a common mistake made even by native speakers.

• "Å pleie" must always be followed by another verb.
• Unlike English "used to," it can be used in both past and present tense.
• Only appropriate for repeatable habits, not stable states or conditions.
• Test your usage by replacing with "usually" in English – if it sounds natural, you're using it correctly.
• "Pleide" (past tense) for past habits, "pleier" (present tense) for current habits.
• Some sentences can work with or without "å pleie" depending on whether you want to emphasize the habitual nature.

Try making your own sentences with "å pleie" in the comments, and I'll let you know how you did!

Chapters

• 0:14 Introduction to "Å Pleie"
• 1:05 Common Mistakes With "Used To"
• 2:39 Past vs Present Usage
• 4:17 Practice Questions in Norwegian
• 6:12 Optional Usage and Final Tips

Transcript

Silje: 0:14

Hello guys. In this episode I want to talk about the verb "å. It can have different meanings, but in case it is the verb that you always need to place a verb after. So it's "opleie. And then the verb opleie å spise, opleie å snakke, for instance, and I hear people use this wrong a lot, even Norwegians I've heard use it wrong because we have been influenced from English.

Silje: 0:51

So it's very easy to translate "å pleie to "used to, which in English is only used in the past. For instance, I used to. In my case, I used to live in France. It follows the same grammatical pattern, so it's very easy to think it's the same. In Norwegian you can also use it for the present, so in my case that would be I used to live in Norway, which doesn't make much sense in English. I really recommend you to not translate it to used to, but replace it with the adverb usually, because then you actually have the true meaning.

Silje: 1:38

Because listen to this, if I say "I usually lived in France, that sounds horrible, right? So å playa I år is not used for anything that happened in the past before. It's only used for something that used to like. Oh god, that was wrong. It's only used for something that usually happened in the past or that usually happens right now in the present, something that is a habit. So it has to be something that can repeat itself and not something that was stable, like living somewhere. It's like a state, like something that is, yeah, something that is always the same. It's not. You're not moving back and forth, for instance. So, for instance, in that case, I used to live in France. I would just say "I lived in France before. That's it. Jag bodde I Frankrike för. But, for instance, if I want to say I used to wake up at seven, right, that was a habit, repeated itself, then you can use " pleje å. Jag plejde å stå upp klokka sju. And you see, for both those sentences, I used to live in France, I used to wake up at seven. You can use "used to in English, but in Norwegian for only the last one. And to check if you use it right, you can replace used to by usually. I usually woke up at seven. Sounds good. I usually lived in France, not so good. Also, if you translate with usually, you can also use it in the present. So it's much easier. "Jeg pleier present tense. "Jag plejer att stå upp klokka sju. I usually get up at seven. So if it was something that usually happened in the past, use past tense "lejde or hard plejd. I have usually been doing something and for something that usually happens right now, "pleier present tense. Okay.

Silje: 3:59

So I have a question for you "Pleier du å snakke norsk? Plejer du å snakke norsk på jobb, for eksempel? Do you usually speak Norwegian? Do you usually speak Norwegian at work, for instance? "Pleide du å snakke engelsk på jobb før? Pleide du å snakke engelsk på jobb før? Did you usually Pleide du? Did you usually? Did you usually speak English at work before? Jeg pleier å lage nye episoder hver uke. Jeg pleier å lage nye episoder hver uke. Did you get that? I usually make new episodes every week and I'm using usually, because it doesn't always happen, but we'll see how it goes.

Silje: 5:17

Yeah, in some cases, if you use the same ... Like you can use, you can choose if you want to use "pleie or just regular, just the verb, the main verb, and it will have like a different, different meaning, like, for instance, if I say "jeg pleide å studere fransk", jt then I'm talking about the habit that I had studying it, so it's more maybe the every time I worked on the homework, for instance. So that's something that repeats itself, whereas if I say " then there's no focus on it being a habit. It could be a habit, but it can also be the state that I'm in. If you're a student, then you're all the time a student. You know, it doesn't change. There's no repetition to that. So in some cases you can use it and you can choose not to use it.

Silje: 6:20

When you use ", then you really have the focus on something that repeated itself, not necessarily all the time, but most of the time. I hope that makes sense. Why don't you try to make your own sentences with " and leave them in the comment field and I will let you know how it went? Until then, I will see you in the next episode, or actually I will probably not see you, but you know what I mean. Vi hördes Ha en fin dag"