A toddler’s must-have vocabulary list

It’s obvious that one of the difficulties of learning a language is that there are a lot of words to know, and until you know enough, you can’t really say anything. Our Norwegian class gets around this by teaching vocabulary in clumps about specific topics. Naturally, these topics are chosen on the basis of what a student of a Norwegian language class might need to actually say, so we can have a much more fluent conversation if we talk about immigration, education, or housing than we can about, say, sports.

Annalise doesn’t need to talk about immigration, education, or housing, but she does have to navigate her own world of three-year-old social drama that requires its own list of relevant words. As a result, there’s a whole set of words that we have learned from her. Here we share a translation dictionary of words for your three-year-old, use each word in a clarifying sentence, and occasionally offer a video where we try to get Annalise to say a word but she usually does not.

Adjectives

• Ødelagt: destroyed
  Sentence: De kjekene er ødelagt.
  Translation: Those cookies are destroyed.

• Forsiktig: careful
  Sentence: Det barnet er ikke forsiktig.
  Translation: That child is not being careful.
• Stille: quiet
  Sentence: Det barnet er verden forsiktig eller stille.
  Translation: That child is neither careful nor quiet.
• Ferdig: done
  Sentence: Jeg er ferdig med toalettet.
  Translation: I am done with the toilet.
• Sliten: tired
  Sentence: Jeg vil legge meg på denne benken fordi jeg er sliten.
  Translation: I want to lay down on this bench because I am tired.

• Skummel: scary
  Sentence: Leo, maskoten på Leos Lekeland, er veldig skummul.
  Translation: Leo, the mascot at Leo’s Playground, is very scary.

Nouns

• En Skli: a slide
  Sentence: Annalise liker å gå ned sklien.
  Translation: Annalise likes to go down the slide.
• Et Fang: a lap
  Sentence: Annalise liker å ha vennen sin på fanget sitt når hun gå ned sklien.
  Translation: Annalise likes to have her friend on her lap when she goes down the slide.

Verbs

• Å Hente: to pick up
  Sentence: Må jeg hente lekene mine?
  Translation: Do I have to pick up my toys?

• Å Male: to paint
  Sentence: Jeg liker å male svarte regnbuer!
  Translation: I like to paint black rainbows!

• Å Dele: to share
  Sentence: Jeg vil ikke dele pensler mine!
  Translation: I don’t want to share my paint brushes!
• Å Miste: to lose
  Sentence: Hvorfor mistet du så mange votter?
  Translation: How have you lost so many mittens?

Interjections

• Sånn: “like that”
• Like som: “just like”
• Oi!: “oh!”

Special interests

• En Bursdag: a birthday
  Sentence: Er det bursdagen min? [asked everyday]
  Translation: Is it my birthday?
• En Krokodille: a crocodile
  Sentence: jeg kan være en baby krokodille, du kan være en mama krokodille, og du kan være en papa krokodille.
  Translation: I can be a baby crocodile, you can be a mama crocodile, and you can be a papa crocodile. [substitute animal at will]
• En Mag: a belly
  Sentence: Kjekken går til magen min.
  Translation: The cookie goes to my belly.

• Bæsj