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Norwegian word of the day: Samboer 

Frazer Norwell
Frazer Norwell - [email protected]
Norwegian word of the day: Samboer 
Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash and Nicolas Raymond/FlickR

If things are going well in your relationship, moving in with your significant other might make sense. 

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What does Samboer mean? 

Samboer means a girlfriend/boyfriend/partner you live with. In legal terms, the term is used to refer to a cohabitant. Sam is a composition clause derived from samme and sammen (meaning same or the same). Boer comes from bo, which means live. 

The term only applies if you are unmarried. If you are married, you can expect to call your spouse your mannen (husband) or kona (wife). 

A boyfriend or girlfriend you don’t live with would be your kjæreste. It is derived from the Norwegian word for love, kjærlighet

Much like kjæreste, samboer isn’t gendered. 

If you live in a flatshare in Norway, it would be called a kollektiv. There isn’t a direct translation for a flatmate in Norwegian, and if you were to use samboer, many would presume you are referring to a romantic partner. 

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Use it like this:

Eirik: Hvorfor er du i Norge 

(Why are you in Norway?) 

Linde: Fordi samboeren min er norsk 

(Because my partner is Norwegian)

 

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