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jeg elsker De

English translation: "I love you" or "I love them"

21:34 Mar 5, 2002
Norwegian to English translations [Non-PRO]
Norwegian term or phrase: jeg elsker De
question
Amber
English translation:"I love you" or "I love them"
Explanation:
The Norwegian sentence is wrong, so we can only guess at what the correct sentence would be. I have three proposals:

1. Jeg elsker deg.

This means: “I love you”. In this case the G at the end must have been lost somehow. In addition, “deg” has been written with a capital D. This is sometimes mistakenly done with the intention of being polite.

2. Jeg elsker dem.

This means: “I love them”. Here, the M at the end may have been lost, but I think another explanation is more probable. It may have to do with the lingusitic situation of Oslo, the capital of Norway. A simplified description of the ligustic situation of Oslo is that in eastern Oslo, people speak a Norwegian dialect that evolved from Old Norse. In western Oslo, however, people speak a language which has evolved from Danish, spoken with a Norwegian pronunciation. In eastern Oslo, the word for “they” is “dem”, and the word for “them” is also “dem”. In standard Norwegian Bokmål the word for “they” is “de”, and the word for “them” is “dem”. In western Oslo, people often use the same forms as in standard Norwegian Bokmål, but not always. Because they think of the language of eastern Oslo as being vulgar, they try to make their own language as different from it as possible. Therefore they use the form “de” for both “they” and “them”. However, this does not explain the capital D. That brings us to my proposal No. 3, which explains the capital D:

3. Jeg elsker Dem.

Just like No. 1, this means: “I love you”, but there is a difference. The last word is the polite form of “you”, just like in French you might use “vous” instead of “tu” or in German you might use “Sie” instead of “du”. Nowadays this polite form is only used sometimes in business letters, but perhaps 100 years ago you might actually hear sentences like “Jeg elsker Dem”. Except for the capital D, in standard Norwegian Bokmål this word is alway equal to the word meaning “they”. Still I do not think people in western Oslo would be likely to say “Jeg elsker De” even if they actually do say “Jeg elsker de” (No. 2), but since the polite form is so little in use, some young people might simply be confused as to how this form is used. Perhaps some young person wanted to be funny by using some exaggerated polite form, but because he was young, he did not know how to use it correctly. Or perhaps the M just got lost because of a typing error.


The ancient English “I love thee” corresponds to No. 1, and not to any of the others.
Selected response from:

Even Eifring
Local time: 06:43
Grading comment
thanks for the answer, your answer was sincerely explicit, and amazing helpful at the same time. Thanks!!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3I love you
Serge L
4"I love you" or "I love them"
Even Eifring
1 +2I love they
Trond Ruud


  

Answers


21 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
I love you


Explanation:
Answer ;-)

Good luck,

Serge L.


    experience
Serge L
Local time: 06:43
PRO pts in pair: 19

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Sven Petersson
1 min
agree  Germán Peralta
2 mins
agree  Antoinette Verburg: experience, hey? ;)
1 hr
  -> You bet!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

2 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5 peer agreement (net): +2
I love they


Explanation:
Grammar has gone to h... in Norway since the 1950's. But, yes, the phrase you ask about can only be translated as "I love they" which of course is meaningless in English!
In ancient English perhaps equivalent to: "I love thee"
Probably the actual Norwegian text is either: "jeg elsker Dem" (I love them)or "jeg elsker deg" (I love you) but more context is required to discern which of the two alternatives is intended


    Native Norw.
Trond Ruud
Local time: 06:43
Native speaker of: Native in NorwegianNorwegian
PRO pts in pair: 31

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Elaine Scholpp
2 hrs
  -> takk
agree  Erling Dugan
16 hrs
  -> takk
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

3 days 49 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
"I love you" or "I love them"


Explanation:
The Norwegian sentence is wrong, so we can only guess at what the correct sentence would be. I have three proposals:

1. Jeg elsker deg.

This means: “I love you”. In this case the G at the end must have been lost somehow. In addition, “deg” has been written with a capital D. This is sometimes mistakenly done with the intention of being polite.

2. Jeg elsker dem.

This means: “I love them”. Here, the M at the end may have been lost, but I think another explanation is more probable. It may have to do with the lingusitic situation of Oslo, the capital of Norway. A simplified description of the ligustic situation of Oslo is that in eastern Oslo, people speak a Norwegian dialect that evolved from Old Norse. In western Oslo, however, people speak a language which has evolved from Danish, spoken with a Norwegian pronunciation. In eastern Oslo, the word for “they” is “dem”, and the word for “them” is also “dem”. In standard Norwegian Bokmål the word for “they” is “de”, and the word for “them” is “dem”. In western Oslo, people often use the same forms as in standard Norwegian Bokmål, but not always. Because they think of the language of eastern Oslo as being vulgar, they try to make their own language as different from it as possible. Therefore they use the form “de” for both “they” and “them”. However, this does not explain the capital D. That brings us to my proposal No. 3, which explains the capital D:

3. Jeg elsker Dem.

Just like No. 1, this means: “I love you”, but there is a difference. The last word is the polite form of “you”, just like in French you might use “vous” instead of “tu” or in German you might use “Sie” instead of “du”. Nowadays this polite form is only used sometimes in business letters, but perhaps 100 years ago you might actually hear sentences like “Jeg elsker Dem”. Except for the capital D, in standard Norwegian Bokmål this word is alway equal to the word meaning “they”. Still I do not think people in western Oslo would be likely to say “Jeg elsker De” even if they actually do say “Jeg elsker de” (No. 2), but since the polite form is so little in use, some young people might simply be confused as to how this form is used. Perhaps some young person wanted to be funny by using some exaggerated polite form, but because he was young, he did not know how to use it correctly. Or perhaps the M just got lost because of a typing error.


The ancient English “I love thee” corresponds to No. 1, and not to any of the others.


Even Eifring
Local time: 06:43
Native speaker of: Native in NorwegianNorwegian
PRO pts in pair: 4
Grading comment
thanks for the answer, your answer was sincerely explicit, and amazing helpful at the same time. Thanks!!
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



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