r/norsk • u/dwchandler • Sep 02 '18

Søndagsspørsmål #243 - 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!

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u/Akihiko95 Sep 05 '18

I wanna be sure of something. If i wanna say the English "There is/are" in norwegian, can i say both "Det er" or "Det finnes"? I know that finnes specifically means to exist, but duolingo some times translate it as " There is" .

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u/matvey_grozny Sep 08 '18

It was explained elsewhere in this sub that it's a question of specificity. If you are talking about a concrete, specific instance, you typically use "Det er". "Det er en prikk på dette eplet." You're talking about a specific spot on a specific apple. If you're talking in general, you can use "Det finnes". "Det finnes prikker på noen epler." N.B.: Not a native speaker so these examples might be off, but this explanation of the difference was given by native speakers.