Image source: SuperMarket Sarah (these cute pillows were for sale, but I think they’re sold out)
I think a lot of my readers are in bilingual relationships. At least the people who recently found me via Google.
Many of you have found this blog by googling “teach yourself Norwegian” or “learn Norwegian online” or something similar. You’ve probably already read my blog post about that, but if not, here it is: How to teach yourself Norwegian.
But some people have more specific, perhaps urgent, questions: how to express love in Norwegian, and how to decipher Norwegian declarations of love. So I’ll try to answer some questions that confused members of English/Norwegian relationships have typed into Google lately:
what does jeg er glad i deg mean
Well, to quote myself:
We say Jeg er glad i deg to close friends and family. This sentence means more to me than the English I love you normally does, but it’s still not that one specific you’re-the-one kind of I love you that people make a big deal about saying or not saying.
I wrote a whole blog post on the difference between “jeg er glad i deg” and “I love you” a few years ago.
should a woman say jeg gla i deg to a man
If she feels that way, she should probably say “Jeg er glad i deg.” Although that does mean “I love you”, it’s not the romantic, dramatic “I love you” that is the subject of so many awkward tv show episodes. Do you think you might want to say “Jeg elsker deg”? That’s ok; you can still say “Jeg er glad i deg.” But you can also say “Jeg er glad i deg” to a friend, even a male friend.
så flink! elsker deg også meaning
“Så flink!” = “So good!” in the sense of “You are so good at that!” We might say “Good job!” or “Well done!” in English. “Elsker deg også” = “I love you too.” In the real, romantic maybe-just-once-in-a-lifetime sense.
jeg er ogsa din for evig min perle:*:*:)translate in english
“I am also yours forever, my pearl.” That is the English translation.
Image source: svennevenn, CreativeCommons
I doubt these people are actually reading my blog (if you are, say hello!), but I am fascinated by their existence. I couldn’t be in a relationship with someone I didn’t have at least one common language with.* I think in a mix of English and Norwegian (hence the bilingual blog), and I have found that it is easier to get close to people who speak both languages. That being said, I can definitely relate to this:
Image source: Joss & Main (you can buy this as a print)
Related posts:
- Bilingual infatuation – in case you want to know the meaning of forelskelse
- I want to live in English
- How to teach yourself Norwegian
- Love in any language
*I have dated guys who didn’t speak Norwegian. Once I told a guy “Jeg er glad i deg”, and he Google-translated it, got “I love you” and freaked out a little.
According to Julie 
January 26, 2014 at 12:51 pm
Just saying HI….. thnx for posting :-p
February 18, 2014 at 10:31 am
Hi Anthony! Are you one of the people who found my blog because you’re in a bilingual relationship?
February 18, 2014 at 9:14 am
I read your blog =]
February 18, 2014 at 10:32 am
Hi Nathan! Did you find my blog because you wanted to know how to say “I love you” in Norwegian?
April 3, 2014 at 2:45 am
Omg yesss!! Best discovery I’ve made in a long time! Super helpful! Thanks!:)
April 4, 2014 at 4:20 pm
found your blog because i wanted to get the correct wording tattooed! i was going to use “glad i deg” but now i don’t know what to do… decisions, decisions…
April 20, 2014 at 9:12 am
I found your blog because I’m in a bilingual relationship – specifically English and Norwegian.
Jeg lærer Norsk 🙂
April 23, 2014 at 8:19 am
I’m glad to hear you’re learning Norwegian and I hope 2014 is a great year for you so far. Masse lykke til!
September 30, 2014 at 11:47 am
I found your blog cause i said to my boyfriend “Jeg elsker deg baby” and he reply “Jeg elsker deg også”
Thanks for the info🙋
May 19, 2015 at 5:27 pm
Julie, hello! My Norwegian girlfriend recently said to me “natti gulli sova godt. eg e glad i deg vettu.” She won’t tell me what it means! Could you help translate? It would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.
November 26, 2015 at 4:20 pm
She said: “Good night, honey. I love you, you know.”, using a local dialect/slang. It was the least dramatic of the two “I love you” options.
April 6, 2017 at 9:49 pm
this wasnt slang. its stavanger dialect.
April 6, 2017 at 9:51 pm
just noticed your translation were a bit off too 😛 it means: “goodnight sweetheart, sleep well. I care about you /love you, you know
October 30, 2015 at 2:44 pm
Hei, jeg fant denne siden fordi jeg letet etter måten man bør si “I was pleased about this/I liked it” ved bruken av ordet “glad”. Jeg fikk ikke svaret på spørsmålet mitt (selv om at det synes å bli “jeg er glad FOR det” (?) ), men i det minste har jeg lært meg noe annet !
Jeg skal se på denne siden oftere hvis det kan hjelpe meg ved å lære “vanlige” uttrykk på norsk. Fordi det er godt å ha en forklaring av et uttrykk som ikke finnes i ordboken ! 🙂
November 26, 2015 at 10:30 am
Hi,
Found your blog even if I am not in a bilingual relationship. However, I am learning Norwegian and so is my wife. We talked to our teacher about this “Jeg er glad i deg” “Jeg elsker deg” and also the meaning of “Jeg er glad i pizza”:) And how the meaning changes depending on who you say it to or what you are talking about. “Jeg er glad i svigermor” would mean something a little different than if I say to my wife “Jeg er glad i deg”:)
We are using a private Norwegian teacher from Trondheim, but she works for a PolishOnline language school that only teachers Norwegian. As it is a Polish school the price is a bit lower and we can have private lessons:)
Regards
Rafel
November 26, 2015 at 4:24 pm
Thanks for your comment. I find it very interesting how language changes how we think about things, for example how we categorize different kinds of loving or liking someone or something. Lykke til med norskkursene!
November 28, 2015 at 5:18 pm
Takk for det:)