r/norsk • u/dwchandler • Oct 29 '17

Søndagsspørsmål #199 - Sunday Question Thread

This is a weekly post to ask any question that you may not have felt deserved its own post, or have been hesitating to ask for whatever reason. No question too small or silly!

Previous søndagsspørsmål

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/TortugaOnline Oct 30 '17

I am learning mostly with with duolingo and I am aware that the pronunciation there is not always flawless, so I want be sure. My question is about the pronunciation of the definite article “et” at the end of the word (like ordet, målet, etc). It seems like the “t” at the end is silent. I recently came across the sentence “Hva er målet her?” where the final “t” in målet is pronounced as a t. Is that right? Is there some kind of “liaison” in Norwegian (like in French)?

2

u/tobiasvl Native Speaker Oct 30 '17

It's always silent in my dialect, at least, which is close to Standard Østnorsk. At least I can't think of a single example where it's not silent, including "målet". I've never used Duolingo so I can't really verify.

1

u/TortugaOnline Oct 30 '17

Thank you. Good to know that there’s no exceptions. Always makes it easier. :) So I guess it is just a mistake. A flaw in the voice engine they have. I know that it also happens in Duolingo with my mother tongue. But as a learner it is sometimes difficult to tell if it is a mistake or an exception (like in some words that come from other languages).

1

u/tobiasvl Native Speaker Oct 30 '17

Note that the t is never silent in the regular past tense that also has the suffix "-et" (or "-a"). This word is not ambiguous, however: "Målet" means "the goal", while the past tense word "measured" has a different suffix, "målte".