#26 "At" or "som"? The one where pizza explains it all ... [grammatikk] [on the go]

We dive into the real logic behind Norwegian "at" and "som", stripping away jargon and showing exactly how these connectors connect the dots. With everyday examples, quick tests you can run in your head, and a few memorable sentences about pizza, we get rid of the guesswork.

We start by grounding at in the places you actually meet it: after verbs like think, say, hope, and see. You’ll hear how an at-clause behaves as one piece inside a larger sentence, often acting as the object, and how Norwegian prefers det up front when an at-clause functions as the subject. We share a simple replacement test—swap the clause with “something”—to confirm you’re dealing with content, plus when you should keep at in fixed pairs like for at.

Then we pivot to som, the workhorse of relative clauses. Instead of memorizing who versus which, you’ll learn that som attaches cleanly to people and things alike, adding precise description right after the noun or pronoun. We break down when you can drop "som", when you must keep it (hint: verb right after), and how commas signal whether a detail is essential or just an extra.

Enjoy the episode, try the mini-exercise at the end, and tell me your answers. If this helped, follow the show, share it with a fellow learner, and leave a quick review to help others find this podcast! 

Chapters

• 0:12 Walking Lesson And Topic Setup
• 0:46 Overview Of At And Som
• 2:16 Where At Appears In Sentences
• 4:48 Subordinate Clauses And Functions
• 10:20 At As Object In Main Clause
• 13:17 At As Subject With Det
• 16:12 Enter Som: The Relative Clause
• 19:24 Dropping Som And The Rule
• 22:00 Essential Vs Extra Information With Som
• 23:33 Listener Exercise And Sign-Off
• 24:00 Practical Heuristics And Wrap-Up

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:12

Hi Alisamon and welcome to another episode on the go. I really enjoyed making the last one. So I hope you accept that the quality is not as good as it normally is, but it's so great to walk and talk at the same time. Ideas and thoughts flow much, much better when you are on the move. And maybe also learning is easier when you're on the move. Who knows? In today's episode, I would like to talk a little bit about the difference between at and some. They can both be translated to that in some contexts. And that is the focus we're having in today's episode. I know I've made a video about this many, many, many years ago. I think it must be 10 years ago or something. So I wanted to make a new one that is maybe more listener-friendly. So I'm gonna first explain it easily without using any grammar words, and then for people who are interested in that, I'll add some grammar points in the end. Ut let's start with ot. And I know there are many ways to translate that in Norwegian. That can be translated with ot, but in some cases it's also de and some. So we can we can use all of those three words. So it's important to know what the function and the meaning of that is. Like for instance in a sentence like I think that I should drink a cup of coffee. You could also say I think I should drink a cup of coffee. So you could skip that. Same thing in Region Yesines At Yiburda Drike and Copka Yesines Yiburda Drike and Copka. That works completely fine. As long as at is not in a like in a construction with other words and any um yeah, like for instance with for, forat, so that, like in English, you don't you don't cut out that together with so then you have to keep it. Same thing with Norwegian, forat, you need to keep at. But when it's by itself, then it's fine. Then you can skip it. So what is the function of at? Okay, for before I'm gonna look at the function, I'm gonna say how you can in what kind of sentences you can find it, how this a sentence with at will look like. So for instance, I think that ye sinus at or yet something something Y mean it my opinion is that Y hooperat I hope that I say at I see that I see at I say that etc etc. Very common and another construction, another typical structure would be it is something something that something something it is important that it is fun that it is interesting that blah blah blah that feint that higgly ut that bra ut and then something something. So it's like something you're describing something, what you think about something. In these two constructions here, it has two different functions in a sentence. And this is where I'm gonna go into grammar stuff. Because ut is something called a subjunction, it's the one kind of connecting word that introduces what's called a subordinate clause, or in Norwegian led settning or del setting. You've probably learned one of those words if you've heard about this before. They are the same: led setting, del setting, subordinate clause. And what that means is that they introduce a sentence that is dependent on a bigger main sentence. Because of that word, because of at, I'm showing that this sentence cannot stand by itself. It is part of a bigger picture. So this sentence has one function, even though, yes, you can go into that sentence and analyze it, or that clause, or whatever you want to call it, you can go inside and analyze and say, okay, uh, this is the subject, this is a verb, blah blah blah. You can also look at it farther away and look at the sentence as just one piece, the one piece in a bigger picture. So if we structure, if you if we analyze sentences, like super simple sentences, very often they have at least, not always, but normally uh they have at least subject and verb, and some of them have subject, verb, and object. And that's what we're gonna look at now. The of course they can be more complex than that or less complex, but typical sentence would have subject, verb, object. Example. Y spicid pizza. Oh god, I always have that example. I really like pizza, so sorry. Um is your subject. So subject is the person or the thing who's doing something. Normally, not always, but normally, it's the person who's activating the verb, who is doing the verb, if that makes sense. And then afterwards you have the verb spicid. So that can be an action, like here. It doesn't have to be an action, it can also be a verb that describes a state, like I'm sitting. The verb can also be uh describing that I have something. Uh so it's not always action, but very often action. And then pizza. Pizza is the object. Object means that it is the part of the sentence that receives the action of the verb. So it's not doing something, it's passively receiving the eating. It's not doing anything, just receiving. So subject is doing, object is receiving. Explained simply. And this I'm telling you this because in order to understand what oth actually introduces, you have to understand the concept of subject and object. You don't need to understand this in order to use oth correctly, but if you're interested in this, then you can keep on listening. If you really want to understand the grammar part of it, then I'm gonna explain it right now. So I made a simple sentence with three words. Right? Subject was one word, verb was one word, and object was one word. But it doesn't always have to be like that. The subject can be many words, right? Instead of saying yi, I could say then ni yenta, then you girl. That's three words, but it has one function, and that is what we're interested in now, interested in now. When we analyze a sentence, we're not so interested in oh, is that a preposition? Is that an adjective? Is that a noun? We care about what their function is in a sentence and not their grammatical function in a dictionary. So that's two levels of analysis, and the same thing with the verb. There can be the the verbal can have can be composed by more words than one. I have eaten, I will be eating, right? More than one word. Uh and the object as well could be more than one word. And this is a very important point. The subject and the object can actually be a sentence in itself. A sentence that like the subject can be a sentence that also contains a subject. So and that is what at introduces. So it introduces a sentence that works like a subject or an object in a bigger sentence. So let's look at uh let's uh try to make a simple sentence here with at. I'm gonna show you my point. Yai sied at jai spicid pizza. Okay, so at yai spicid pizza, that's your subordinate clause, your led settling. And in that sentence you already have a subject and a verb and an object, right? Yay is a subject, speed is a verb, uh pizza is an object. But if you look at the bigger sentence, your main clause, what was your main clause? Yay si ir Yai see it, I say yai subject si ir verb and what is missing? What comes after the verb? Well, normally you have an object there. So you do the whole thing. That's also an object. All the the whole sentence there is the object of the main clause. That's the function of at. Introducing the object, uh like it's introducing, but it's also part of the object of the main clause. And a way to see this clearly is by replacing this sentence with one word. Yed nu. I say something. Okay. The something is passive. It's not doing something, it's being said. It's activated by the subject. I. So yeah, by replacing, that's that's the thing you can do. When you are starting to learn about lead setting, subordinate clause in Norwegian, that can be an interesting thing to do. Replacing those clauses with one word. That's an easy way to see which function it has in a bigger sentence. And then I I said that it can also be the subject of a sentence. And in this case, it it would be the subject of a sentence where you describe a thing. So it will not be a sentence where you have an object, but you have just subject and then this the a description of this subject. This is called uh predicative, I think, in English. And in Norwegian, we do not like to start a sentence with at. Normally you put the subject in the beginning of your sentence, right? But we don't like to start with a at sentence. I could it's possible, but instead we normally start with dead deadfint at du ad. It is nice that you are here. So at du adhere is the subject. We're gonna start the sentence with at du ad just to show you how it works. At du adhint that you are here, comma is nice. Let's try to replace the at sentence with something else. Var adfint the weather is nice or nu adfint something is nice. So you have nu subject ad verbint predicative. Predicative means description of a subject coming after the verb. So when you have a sentence like this where there's no action towards an object, then it's uh predictive. Okay, yay add laded, I am a teacher. Laded would also be predictive because I am describing me. I'm describing the subject. So those are the two kinds of sentences where you normally would find at. Either as an object or as a subject. So I hope that makes it a little bit easier to understand one to put at. A test, easy test. If you're not sure, would it be possible to leave it out? Could you leave it out in English? Then yes, you should put at. Now, in order to be sure 100%, we need to study some. If you're sure that you can leave it out and it is definitely not sum that you're gonna use, then it's gonna be at. Okay, so now let's look at some. Some can be translated with that, but I recommend using which instead. So it can be translated with which or who. And to make it clear when to use sum and when to use them, for instance, because I see that error a lot that people use vem when we're talking about a person instead of some. I'm gonna explain the logic of sum. Some is used to add a description of a thing or a person. We do not differentiate whether it's a person or a thing. And this person or thing can be subject or object of the sentence. So some also introduces a subordinate clause, or more specifically, a relative clause. To explain it a little bit easier, some sentences, like sentences started clauses starting with some have the function of an adjective. So for instance, I could say I have a red car. Red would be the adjective here. And but I can also say I have a car which is red. Right? But why should I say which is red? That's just that's a very long sentence. Why I don't need to do that. That's just a waste of words. But in some cases, we have to use that construction because we do not have an adjective that describes exactly what we want to say. Like, for instance, in the sentence, I have a car which I love more than anything in the world. Do you know for an adjective that means which I love more than anything in the world? You could say a loved car or a fantastic car or something like that, but it doesn't describe exactly what I want to say. So when I use some, I allow myself to describe a thing with more precision than with the adjectives that I have at hand. Okay, but this was my car. That was easy. Now if I describe a person, I can do the same thing. Um I have a friend that I like. Or I have a friend who loves hanging out with me. In both cases I would use some. And just like in English, sometimes we skip some and sometimes we don't. So I could say I have a friend I like to hang out with. I didn't I don't have to put that, that I like to hang out with. Or who. I'm not sure if you put who or that there. But anyways, you can skip the word. Same thing in Norwegian. But you would have to say, I have a friend who likes to hang out with me. Who likes? Who likes some leak it when who or sum is followed by a verb you have to keep it there. If who or some is followed by the subject, a person or thing, then you can skip it. If it's followed by a verb, you have to keep it. That's the rule. And you can just check with English. Can I skip it in English? Okay, then I can skip it in Norwegian as well. So sum, the function of sum is to add a description of a thing or person. And if this information, this description is not important, it's just like a it's a by the way information, but not really relevant in order to understand what we're talking about, then you can insert it with a comma before and after. So for instance, if I say na bunmin, somasnil, liciro stoposhi. My neighbor, who is kind, likes to go skiing. That was just like a by the way, if you wanted to know, my neighbor is kind. Uh, but the most important information was he or she likes to ski. So that yeah, so there are two version two possibilities. The the description that you add with some can be relevant, super important, because it's really defining it's important to know which thing you're talking about, right? Or it's just uh an extra information that you found interesting, but it's not super relevant. Then you put a comma before and after it, just to show that it's just some details that you would like to add. So some, the place of sum will always be after a noun, like the dog, or a pronoun, hun, or den. Uh never after a verb directly. Or potentially a pronoun or noun packed into a bigger construction like bilan min or my car, but the main it describes the noun of that expression. And if you are not sure at all, if you are very confused, try to translate some with which. Which and just imagine that which could also describe people. I can always use which describing people or nouns. If it makes more people or things, and if it makes more or less sense, even though you would like to put the woo who there or that there, if it makes sense, if it's like understandable what it means, then you can be certain that you can use some. Okay, cool. So I hope that helps as usual. Let me know if you have any questions, if you have any sentences that you are unsure about. Oh, maybe I should give you one or two or three. I'm gonna give you three sentences and I would like you to tell me what to put in when I say blank. Okay blank de gorbra I say blank it's going fine or it's okay. Uh or some next one dead bra blank do add har it's good blank you are here in the last one Y har and ven blank laded nosh I have a friend blank is learning Norwegian. Okay, let me know what the answers are. I'm not gonna tell you. Tug for it.