#18 "Hvis" or "om"? If I only knew ... / Hvis jeg bare visste det ... [grammatikk]

Starting with good news - you can always use "om" if you're uncertain, though native speakers typically differentiate between the two in conversation. But when should you use each one correctly? The key distinction lies in their grammatical functions. 

"Hvis" introduces hypothetical situations with consequences. For example, "Hvis du vil ha dessert, må du spise grønnsakene først" (If you want dessert, you must eat your vegetables first). A helpful trick: if you can mentally insert "then" (så/da) after the conditional clause, "hvis" is usually your best choice.

Meanwhile, "om" serves a specific purpose - it introduces indirect questions, in this case yes/no questions without question words like "når" (when) or "hva" (what). Think of "om" as equivalent to "whether" in English. When transforming direct questions like "Går det bra?" (Is it going well?) into indirect speech, you'd say "Jeg spør OM det går bra" (I'm asking whether it's going well).

The episode includes practical examples to test your understanding, with explanations that make this grammar point much clearer. Whether you're a beginner struggling with basic conditionals or an intermediate learner fine-tuning your grammar, this episode provides the clarity you need to sound more natural in Norwegian. 

Chapters

• 0:14 Friday Greetings
• 0:31 Introducing Vis vs Om
• 1:35 Using Vis for Hypothetical Statements
• 5:27 When to Use Om
• 10:46 Practice Sentences
• 15:22 Final Tips and Farewell

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:14

Good morning, or I don't know if it's morning at your place, but it is here. It's a little bit cloudy, but I'm feeling good because it's Friday. I hope you have the Friday feeling as well, even though it might not be Friday at your place. Today I wanted to talk to you about two words that people very often confuse, and those are Viss and om. Now I'm only going to look at the meaning if, because they can mean other things as well, but that's not the topic today. So when do you use viss and when do you use om? First of all, I want to start with saying that actually, you can always use om. First of all, I want to start with saying that actually you can always use om, but Norwegians tend to differentiate, and well, when we speak, at least, we normally differentiate, because using om all the time can sound a little bit formal. But you can, if you're afraid of making mistakes, you can, if you want, only use om Now. So let's start with vis. How do I use vis?

Speaker 1: 1:35

Vis is used to introduce a hypothesis, and whenever you have a sentence with a hypothesis, normally you also have the consequence or the result or the condition for this hypothesis and very often, using this. You start the sentence with this. You don't have to, but it's something people tend to do because it sounds logical. You introduce first the hypothesis, for instance, if you want a dessert, and then consequence or condition, in this case, må du spise grönsakene först, must you eat the vegetables first. And notice here if I start with the hypothesis, I will invert subject and verb in the following clause Må du instead of du, må. So the whole sentence would be Hvis du vill ha dessert, komma komma, må du spise grønnsakene dine først. If you want dessert, comma must you eat your vegetables first? I could start with the condition first, and then it would be like this Du må spise grönsakerna dine, if you want a dessert. So this introduces something that might be true or might not be true, and if it is true, then remember that you can always put in a then for the consequence or the condition. So, for instance, I could also say Viss du vill ha dessert komma, så må du spise grönsakerna dina. Så then, grönsakerna dina. Så then. Så må du spisa grönsakerna dina, then you must eat your vegetables. I don't have to put it in there, but I can, and that can be a trick to remind you whether you should use vis or om. If you can put in then afterwards and then a consequence, then it's vis you should use preferably. I can also use da instead of så, so in this case Both da and så can be used to say then, then with the meaning in that case. That's important, because the word then can mean different things. Here it means in that case, if it is true in that case. So I could say Hvis du vil ha dessert, da må du spise grønnsakene dine først. If you want a dessert, then da or så must you eat your vegetables first.

Speaker 1: 5:20

Okay, so next one is going to be when to use om. And, as I told you before, you can always use om if you want to, but we're going to differentiate them anyway. So the function, the first function of om, the case where you have to use om you cannot use this. You have to use om is when it is used to introduce an indirect question, and sometimes that's very easy to see, but not always. I'm going to show you a case where it is really easy to see, but not always I'm going to show you a case where it is really easy to see.

Speaker 1: 6:04

So you know that when you make a direct question with a question that has a question word like Når, når kommer du or Vad Vad heter du? When do you come? What is your name? Når Vad? When you put that into a bigger sentence and you make it an indirect question, then something happens. You still keep the question word, but the function of the question word is not the same as it was in the direct question. So now it works as a connecting word, a subjunction, and because it is a connecting word, you do not invert afterwards anymore like you did in the direct question. So instead of saying Når kommer du, I will say Når du kommer. So my indirect question could be Indirect question, could be Jeg vet ikke når du kommer, I don't know when you come. Or Jeg er usikker på vad du heter. I am unsure about what your name is. Jeg er usikker på vad du heter. Jeg vet ikke når du kommer.

Speaker 1: 7:52

Okay, so here it's quite easy to see that it's an indirect question because you're talking about not knowing. So you are, even though you're not asking directly. You're saying that you're not sure and that you want to know. So in this case I put in nor in the middle and var in the middle. But when you have a question without a question word, what do you do then? When you transform it into an indirect question Because we need to have a connector.

Speaker 1: 8:24

So, for instance, if I ask går det bra, is it going well, I don't have any question word, it's just verb subject Går det, and then subject Går det and then adjective Går det bra. So what I have to do if I want to put that into a bigger sentence and make it an indirect question or kind of a ledsetning, subordinate clause. So indirect questions are also subordinate clauses, or ledsetning in Norwegian. The word that I put in is that's it. So it's the connector you use to introduce a question that doesn't have a question word, which means that it also does not have a connector that you can use or a subjunction that you can use. So you put in om Okay.

Speaker 1: 9:28

So for instance, if my question was går det bra, if I want to put that into a bigger sentence, I could, for instance, say I ask if it's going well. And a little tip here for you is that om, when it introduces a question without a question word, a yes, no question, you can also call it that a yes, no question. So questions where you should answer yes or no. Går det bra, ja eller nej? You can ask yourself could I put in whether? And then in the end of the sentence, or not, whether or not, then om is the correct word to use. So om can be translated to whether. So I'm asking whether it's going well or not. Jag spør om det går bra eller icke. Okay, so there are two tips for you. When you're really not sure, ask yourself okay, could I put in whether or not in the sentence instead of if Okay, then you have to use om. If you can add in then something, something consequence, something, something condition, then you know that vis can be used and most in most cases, is used. You could put in om if you want to, but it might sound a little bit formal, especially in spoken Norwegian. In written it's more common. Cool, I hope that helped.

Speaker 1: 11:26

I will give you two sentences where I would like you to fill in vis. Are you ready? Let's go. Jeg lurer på Du vil spise med mig. Again, jeg lurer på Du vil spise med mig. I wonder you want to eat with me. Jeg lurer på Du vill spise med mig. Okay, think about it. I will tell you in the end which it is. I'm going to give you another example and then I will give you the result afterwards.

Speaker 1: 12:32

Next one is Du må lese my my, du vil lære norsk. You must read a lot you want to learn Norwegian. Du må lese my, du vill lære norsk. You might agree or not agree with that statement. That's up to you. Well, actually, why did I leave out the word in English? I could have left it there. It was if in both cases. That's stupid. So my two sentences in English are I wonder if you want to eat with me, if you want to eat with me. And you must read a lot if you want to learn Norwegian.

Speaker 1: 13:33

First sentence I wonder if you want to eat with me, is Okay. I wonder if you want to eat with me. I wonder whether, yes or no, you want to eat with me. I wonder whether, yes or no, you want to eat with me, yes or no? So it's a question that I'm not asking directly, but indirectly Om. And then you know what the last one is going to be Du må läsa mya viss du vill lära norsk. What the last one is going to be Du må lese mye hvis du vil lære norsk. You must read a lot if you want to learn Norwegian.

Speaker 1: 14:16

I could also have said but I didn't because that would have been too easy. I could also have said hvis du vil lære norsk, så or da må du lese mye. And I could have done that with om as well. I could have started with the om clause first, but that's not so common to do, but it works as well. Okay, so this in the last case, because I had a hypothesis that I didn't know whether it was true or not, and then the consequence of that or condition. So the hypothesis was you want to learn norwegian. I don't know if that's true. I I hope it's true. And then the condition for that was read. You have to read a lot. And of course, that was just a sentence. Some people learn languages without reading a lot. But yes, that was my example sentence. Let me know how it went in the comment field, wherever you are, and let me know if this episode was useful for you. Ha en fin dag Vi hördes. Thank you.