r/norsk • u/dwchandler • Sep 27 '20

Søndagsspørsmål #351 - 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/PnunnedZerggie Sep 29 '20

Is there a rule that you can't use the short "s" if the name is also ending in "s"? Like "Det er Niels sin bil".

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u/mr_greenmash Native speaker Sep 29 '20

You can, but that would be written as "Det er Nils' bil"

Not sure if the last S as in (Nils's) actually need writing or if the ' is enough. But I don't think it would affect the score of any test. I think...

The use of ' also goes for names ending in x and maybe z.

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u/PnunnedZerggie Sep 29 '20

Would it also be pronounced as "nilses"?

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u/mr_greenmash Native speaker Sep 29 '20

Depends on dialect.

I don't think too much about what I say (just realized) but I guess a normal way to say it (for me) would be either "Det er Nils sin bil" or "Det er bilen til Nils".

This sort of circumvents the pronunciation issue. I can't really think of many situations where I use " name' "

I mostly associate it with small local businesses with names such as "Nils' café" or "Rogers gym"

But if you said "Det er Nilses bil" you'd be understood 10/10 times.