#20 "Skal", "vil", or "kommer til å"? You will soon understand the future tenses! [vokabular]

Struggling with how to express future actions in Norwegian? You're not alone. The difficulty lies in the crucial distinctions between "skal," "vil," and "kommer til å" – three expressions that all translate to "will" in English but carry significantly different meanings in Norwegian. This episode dives deep into these differences, revealing how choosing the wrong one can accidentally make you sound controlling or create unintended meanings.

We explore how "skal" is perfect for expressing plans you can control (things you could put in your calendar), while "kommer til å" is the go-to choice for future events that will happen naturally without your direct control. You'll discover why saying "Du skal like jobben din" sounds like you're ordering someone to enjoy their job, and why weather forecasts often use "skal" in a completely different way that has nothing to do with planning.

The episode also unpacks secondary meanings of these expressions, including the idiomatic "Det skal ikke være lett" (It's not supposed to be easy), which Norwegians use to sympathize with life's difficulties. We clarify how the past tense "skulle" typically means "was going to" rather than "should," and why "burde" is often the safer choice when you want to express what someone should do.

Chapters

• 0:15 Introduction to Norwegian future tense
• 1:42 Using "skal" for plans and control
• 4:58 "Vil" and "kommer til å" for future events
• 9:55 Alternative meanings of "skal"
• 14:05 Past tense "skulle" and when to use "burde"
• 18:30 Episode conclusion and key takeaways

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Listen up everybody. I dag skal jeg snakke om skal, vil og kommer til å. Today I will speak about how to say will in Norwegian and, as you've probably noticed, I used skal in my introduction. Probably noticed I used skal in my introduction and in the end of this episode you will know why. I slutten av episoden vil du vite hvorfor? Here I used vil. Hopefully you will understand why I used vill in my second example. Okay, where to start Now? I will not only tell you how to use these three expressions when they mean will, I will also tell you what they can mean in other cases, so that it's easier for you to navigate and know when to use what. And I know it's easy to translate literally from English and think that skall means shall and vill means will. And, as I typically do, I will ask you to leave that behind. Forget about that. That will not help you, okay. So let's start from scratch. Forget about English, because English will not help you here, at least not right now.

Speaker 1: 2:02

So in Norwegian, we differentiate between things that you plan to do, that you intend to do, and things that just happen by themselves. So, either because they're not controllable, or you're not talking about something that you control. So, to give you an example, you probably hear sk skal used a lot because we talk about plans, right, we talk about that all the time. What are you doing this weekend? Vad skal du I helga or vad skal du göra I helga? So you could say both. You can say what will you in the weekend and what will you do in the weekend. You can actually skip the do part. So that's the first use of skal. When you talk about your plans and when I say plans, think about things that you can put in your calendar you can say eight o'clock, I'm going to do this and that Okay. And when you use it correctly, it sounds good. If you use it incorrectly, it sounds like you're trying to control a situation or a person that you cannot control or that maybe you should not control. Okay, so, and that's okay, you can actually also use it if you want to control someone. Just be careful. So, instead of using må, you can also use skall, right. So you could say, for instance, to your kid Du skal spise maten din. You will eat your food. So the reason why skal is effective here is because it's showing that you are mastering the situation. You are controlling this other person, whereas if you say if you use it wrongly for instance you say Du ska like den nya jobben din, when wanting to say you will like your new job, it's like saying you must like your new job. So that sounds, it doesn't sound good. It sounds like you are giving somebody an order to like their job. So this brings me to the two other options, and they actually mean exactly the same thing Vill and kommer till å Three words.

Speaker 1: 4:58

I'm adding å just so you remember that you always need to put å before the verb when you use that expression. So the expression itself is just kommer till, but you always put å and then a verb afterwards. So I'm just going to leave it with å. Kommer till å.

Speaker 1: 5:18

In spoken Norwegian we normally use the last one, kommer till å. Norwegian we normally use the last one kommer till år. And vill, when you use it in spoken Norwegian, normally means want to. So you don't have to worry too much about that in spoken Norwegian. You just have to remember to use it correctly.

Speaker 1: 5:42

Vill in spoken Norwegian normally does not mean will. It normally means want to. Jag vill gå på kino Means I want to go to the movies, and I do not add å in between there. I don't say want to, I just say want. I want go to the movies or movie theater. Jeg vill gå på kino. I want to go to the movie theater. And the reason why I can be sure that this is what it means is because going to the movie theater is something I can plan, I can control it, I can put it in my calendar, so it doesn't make any sense to use vill for future in this case. If I wanted to say that that was a plan of mine, I would use skal, because skal is for plans. So jeg skal gå på kino, I will go, or I'm planning to go to the movie theater, okay.

Speaker 1: 6:50

So in which cases can I use vill or kommer till å when talking about future, for things that cannot be controlled or that well, you're not talking about controlling them. If I'm talking about, for instance, emotions, I don't know about you, but I do not plan how to feel. But I know myself. I know that in certain situations I will feel a certain way. Right, I can say when you move I will feel sad. I know it will happen, because I know myself, but I'm not planning it. It will happen by itself and I cannot put it in my calendar because I cannot say that eight o'clock I will start crying, even though I know I probably will. So in that case, if I say Når du flytter vill jeg bli trist when you move, will I become sad? Of course it could also mean I want to be sad, but that's not logical. Nobody wants to be sad. So it's very clear, very obvious what it means.

Speaker 1: 8:29

In spoken Norwegian I would probably use kommer till å instead or just blir by itself. So very often blir when you talk about future, an uncontrolled future can be used by itself for the future of being Okay. So we very often just use blir. So I could say or, or or.

Speaker 1: 9:25

And I started with a very complicated sentence with inversion and everything. Sorry about that. I will start over just with the last part. No inversion this time. Jeg kommer till å bli trist. I will become sad, I will become sad. I will become sad. I will become sad. Same same Sad. I will become sad.

Speaker 1: 10:19

Trist Lai mai, and it couldn't translate to will, because I can both want something and something can happen to me in the future as well. I will. I can say I want to and I will. That makes sense. And in those cases I suggest you to use kommer till å, because kommer till å only means one thing. It only means will. It cannot mean want. So the only verb that can mean both is vill. But if the subject is not a person, it's impersonal. Then it's fine. It doesn't make any sense that it means to want right. If I say det vill regna, it doesn't make any sense that it means to want right. If I say det vill regna, it will rain, that's fine, because it cannot want to rain, right? It doesn't refer to anything at all, it doesn't refer to a person. So here there's only one possible meaning it will rain, det vill regna.

Speaker 1: 11:29

And if you've lived in Norway for a while or you've been exposed to Norwegian for a while, you might have heard sentences like Det skal regna. And knowing what I just told you, that can be super confusing, because, well, you cannot plan the rain or it cannot plan itself, right. Det skal regne. It makes no sense at all. So I'm going to tell you a secret Skal doesn't only mean will, it can also mean it's supposed to, it's supposed to, it's intended to, or I've heard, according to what I've heard. So if I say det skal regne. That means that I've heard somewhere that it will rain, that it will rain.

Speaker 1: 12:28

An expression that I find really funny with skal is det skal ikke være lett, it's not supposed to be easy. Det skal ikke være lett, det skal ikke være lett, det skal ikke være lett. And of course, this means it means what it means, but we also use it in so, yeah, it's something you can tell to a person who's having a hard time. You know, when you want to support that person, say that's yeah, that's life, life is hard right. Det skal ikke være lett. And I's life, life is hard right. Det ska aldrig vara lätt. And I'm with you, it sucks right.

Speaker 1: 13:14

Or if you see a person who's behaving really weird or, yeah, doesn't seem to be doing very well, but in a funny way Somebody who's a little bit original that's the word I was looking for Original, somebody original you could say det skal ikke være lett it's not supposed to be easy meaning that that person is not having a good day, that person is struggling. Well, that's life, that's how it is. So it's just a funny way to pinpoint that somebody is behaving a little bit unusual. And I also would add that, since skull is a verb, as you know. I wanted to mention that skall.

Speaker 1: 14:08

When you put it in the past, normally it does not mean should. Skulle normally does not mean should, it can. But I highly suggest that you use burda instead, just to be sure that you use it correctly. I'm going to give you an example in the end where it can mean should, but you can always use burda when you want to say should. So when you use skulla, which is the past of skal, it normally means either was going to right, because that's when you talk about a plan in the past I am going to, I will. I am going to the movies, I will go to the movies. That's the present and the past. A plan that you had, I was going to. Så jeg skulle gå på kino, men jeg rakte ikke. I was going to the movies, but I wasn't on time. Jeg rakte ikke, I was not on time, I was not on time. So that's one meaning. Skulle can mean was going to. Another meaning is I was supposed to, which is more or less the same thing du skulle hjälpe mig. You were supposed to help me, you were supposed to help me, you were meant to help me, that was your role. So, yeah, either was supposed to or was going to.

Speaker 1: 15:59

Now, an example where skulle can mean should, where you should use burda just to be on the safe side, is when it's followed by ha and perfektum particip. So I should have done that, for instance, I should have called instance, I should have called you, I should have helped you that kind of sentence Jag skulle ha ringt dig, jag skulle ha hjulpet dig. And you might have noticed that the ha part is very often skipped. You do not have to say it or write it. You are free to skip it completely in both spoken and written Norwegian, and it's considered correct. So, instead of saying Considered correct, so, instead of saying I could rather say I should called you, I should helped you, literally. Now, in all of these examples, you can use burda.

Speaker 1: 17:30

Burda always means should, and the reason why I recommend using burda and not skulle is because it's easy to always translate with skulle. But skulle doesn't always mean should. If I say jeg skulle hjelpe dig, as we just saw, it means I was going to help you or I was supposed to help you. So if it's followed by infinitive, then it doesn't mean should. So grammatical structure is important. But if I use burde. Same sentence, but I'm exchanging skulle with burde. Then it's fine, jag burde hjälpa dig, I should help you. So you see, borde is a safer choice, but I will leave that up to you. Now you know, and you do whatever you want. I hope this episode was useful. As always, please leave me a comment if you have any thoughts, any feedback, any ideas. That would be super nice to hear from you. See you in the next episode. Tack för idag. Vi hörs, thank you.