NO · et svar
meg
du skylder meg et svar
Bokmålsordboka · sense 2 · Creditor then thing · both bare
RolesHide roles DebtorCreditorThing
Same order Creditor then thing, as in owes me $5. The thing here is not a sum.
Headword
Language Norwegian · Bokmål · seventeenth language of owe · verb skylde · Debtor the subject · Creditor a bare indirect object, object-form pronoun or bare noun, or til · thing a bare object · money in Bokmålsordboka is til or på · credit skylde someone a thing, or til · blame skylde på · skyldes a separate s-verb
Debtor, Creditor, thing owed · the verb skylde · working claim, revisable
English owe is one lexical verb. Merriam-Webster’s money line is owes me $5. Oxford prints both owes her father £3 000 and owes £3 000 to her father. Bokmål skylde is also a verb, not the adjective frame of Swedish vara skyldig. Bokmålsordboka heads it verb, infinitive å skylde, present skylder, preterite skyldte, present perfect har skyldt, imperative skyld. The participle cell is skyldt. The origin line is av skyld. Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB) heads the same verb, preterite skyldte, participle skyldt, etymology avledet av skyld.
The Debtor is the subject. Bokmålsordboka: du skylder, han skyldte, hun skylder. NAOB: jeg skylder, hennes far skyldte, Frank Jensen skyldte. A full noun in that slot has no case ending. A pronoun there is the subject form: du, han, hun, jeg, and the polite De in skylder De mig.
The bare double object is Creditor then thing, both without a preposition. Bokmålsordboka sense 2, ha plikt til å gi: du skylder meg et svar and han skyldte henne en forklaring. NAOB, still on a thing that is not a kroner sum: Frank Jensen skyldte meg en forklaring, folk som skyldte ham en tjeneste eller to, du skylder landet det offer, jeg skylder Dem kvittering og ikke juling, and skylder De mig ikke et kongerige. The Creditor is the first bare object, the indirect object. The thing owed is the second bare object. meg, henne, ham, and polite Dem are object forms. The citation spelling mig is the same object form in Ibsen’s line. landet is a full noun in that slot, and it has no case ending. German schulden marks the Creditor dative, jemandem. Czech dlužit marks the Creditor dative, komu. These Bokmål nouns do not.
Bokmålsordboka’s own money examples are not that double object. Sense 1, ha gjeld: skylde 500 000 på et hus, and han skylder penger til mange. The sum 500 000 sits with på and the property. The amount penger sits before til and the Creditor mange. NAOB sense 1, ha å betale (som gjeld eller gjenytelse), prints money as en gammel bankier, som hennes far skyldte penger. The Creditor is the fronted relative som. The amount is penger. There is no til in that clause, and there is no numeral. The noun article gjeld glosses stå i gjeld til as skylde noen penger. That gloss is the double-object formula, Creditor noen then penger. The example of the expression is not that formula filled: de står i stor gjeld til menneskesmuglerne. The Creditor is in til. No sum is in the line.
Jeg skylder deg hundre kroner reuses the order of du skylder meg et svar and the gloss skylde noen penger. deg is the object form parallel to printed meg and henne. The articles opened here do not print deg as the Creditor of a kroner sum. Ibsen’s hvad du skylder dig og dine prints the older object spelling dig, and the line is what one owes oneself and one’s own, not a sum. hundre is not the printed numeral. Bokmålsordboka prints 500 000 and penger. NAOB prints penger. The sentence is constructed. It is not one filed citation. Nynorskordboka, a different written standard, does print a money double object: han skuldar meg pengar, and a på-sum ho skuldar 300 000 kroner på huset. Those lines are Nynorsk. They are not Bokmål clauses.
til is printed on the Creditor, so the bare object is not the only cloth. han skylder penger til mange. hun skylder en stor takk til familien. familien has no case ending. English owes £3 000 to her father is the same kind of preposition on the person, after the thing. The Bokmål double-object lines do not add til beside meg or henne.
Thanks and credit stay on skylde, and the cloth is not one cloth. Bokmålsordboka puts en stor takk til familien under ha plikt til å gi. NAOB sense 2 prints stor tak skylder jeg ham. The thing stor tak is fronted. ham is the bare object-form Creditor. The citation is not the order skylder ham takk. NAOB sense 3, ha (noe(n)) å takke for (et gode), is the credit reading English files as owe X to Y. The printed double object is de som skylder bevegelsen sitt liv. bevegelsen is a bare full noun, the source. sitt liv is the thing. No til. The same sense prints the thing fronted and the source bare: de vel forsynte bogreoler jeg skylder Tysklands yngre skoler. Tysklands yngre skoler has no case ending and no preposition. The example hva skylder jeg æren av ditt besøk? fills the thing and does not fill a source. The noun’s second gloss of stå i gjeld til is ha noe eller noen å takke for noe som har hatt betydning, and the lines are skuespillet stod i gjeld til den greske tragedien and hun stod i gjeld til sine forfedre. The source is in til. A bare theme is not in those two lines. English I owe my success to my teachers puts the theme in the object and the source in to. The noun success is not printed as a second bare object on the English page.
på is two frames, and the dictionaries split them. Bokmålsordboka’s fixed expression skylde på is legge skylden på, example de skylder på hverandre. NAOB files the same blame reading under sense 3: de som kom for sent, skyldte på toget, skylde på andre, skylde på jobben. The person or the thing blamed is the noun of på. There is no bare Creditor and no sum. A different på is the property the debt rests on. NAOB, under the money sense, glosses skylde på as ha gjeld hvilende på, and the lines are skylde på huset and skylde på gården. Bokmålsordboka’s skylde 500 000 på et hus is that money på, with a sum. It is not the blame frame.
skyldes is not the debt double object, and it is not English owe X to Y. Bokmålsordboka files skyldes as its own verb: å skyldes, skyldes, skyldtes, har skyldtes. The gloss is kunne tilskrives; føres tilbake til. The lines are brannen skyldes uaktsomhet, det hele skyldes en misforståelse, and seieren skyldtes hard trening. The subject is the result. The complement is the cause, a bare noun. NAOB files the same form as sense 4 of skylde, som s-verb (med passiv grunnbetydning), gloss ha sin årsak i; ha som årsak, example det hele skyldes en ren forglemmelse. An at-clause can be the cause: noe som skyldtes at det akkurat var slutt på siste kinoforestilling. There is no Debtor, no indirect object, and no til. English I owe my success to my teachers has the person as subject, the theme as object, and the source in to.
Two further frames are printed, and neither is the kroner double object. An infinitive can be the only complement: Bokmålsordboka skylde å gjøre oppmerksom på noe, NAOB jeg skylder å gjøre oppmerksom på at …. No Creditor and no sum. NAOB sense 1.1 is marked uten objekt, dialektalt, gloss stå i gjeld, and the lines are nu skyldte han for baaten and mand hendes skyldte i banken. for there is the thing the debt concerns. The Creditor is absent. NAOB also prints skylde noe for noe, a separate formula, with skyldt for å være «en Schweigaardianer» and det som de skylder mig for. That for is not English for the ticket. Nynorskordboka’s sense 2 is gje skulda for, example dei skulda han for tjuveriet. The blame cloth on the Bokmål verb article is på, not this for.
The Debtor is the subject of skylde. The Creditor of a bare double object is an object-form pronoun or a bare noun, and the thing follows it. til can hold the Creditor after the thing. på is either the property the debt rests on, or the person blamed. skyldes makes the result the subject and the cause the complement.
skylde · bare Creditor · bare thing
✓ du skylder meg et svar · han skyldte henne en forklaring Bokmålsordboka · sense 2 · object forms meg, henne
✓ Frank Jensen skyldte meg en forklaring · folk som skyldte ham en tjeneste eller to · du skylder landet det offer NAOB · ham · bare noun landet · no case ending
✓ jeg skylder Dem kvittering og ikke juling · skylder De mig ikke et kongerige NAOB · Ibsen · polite Dem · citation mig
you owe me an answer · he owed her an explanation · Frank Jensen owed me an explanation · people who owed him a favor or two · you owe the country that sacrifice · I owe you a receipt · don’t you owe me a kingdom
Money · til · på · the gloss
✓ han skylder penger til mange · skylde 500 000 på et hus Bokmålsordboka · sense 1 · Creditor in til · sum with på
✓ en gammel bankier, som hennes far skyldte penger NAOB · Creditor the relative som · penger · no numeral · no til
✓ skylde noen penger · de står i stor gjeld til menneskesmuglerne Bokmålsordboka · gjeld · the gloss is the double object · the example is til · no sum
he owes money to many · owe 500,000 on a house · a banker her father owed money · owe someone money · they are deeply in debt to the smugglers
Credit · blame på · skyldes
✓ hun skylder en stor takk til familien · stor tak skylder jeg ham · de som skylder bevegelsen sitt liv Bokmålsordboka · NAOB sense 2 · NAOB sense 3 · til or a bare source
✓ de skylder på hverandre · skyldte på toget · skylde på huset Bokmålsordboka · blame på · NAOB blame på · NAOB debt på the property
✓ brannen skyldes uaktsomhet · det hele skyldes en ren forglemmelse Bokmålsordboka · skyldes · NAOB sense 4 · result subject · cause complement
she owes the family a great debt of thanks · great thanks I owe him · those who owe the movement their lives · they blame each other · blamed the train · owe on the house · the fire is due to negligence · the whole thing is due to a pure oversight
| Place | Introduced by (working) | Norwegian marking | Status in the sources | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Debtor | subject of skylde | subject · no case ending on a noun | du · han · hun · jeg · Frank Jensen | subject of the verb owe |
| Creditor | first bare object, or til | object-form pronoun · or a bare noun · or til + noun | meg · henne · ham · Dem · landet · til mange · til familien | bare object or to |
| Thing | second bare object | bare noun · no preposition | et svar · en forklaring · en tjeneste · sitt liv · penger | one bare object |
| Money sum | Bokmålsordboka sense 1 · the gloss | til the Creditor · or på the property · gloss noen penger | penger til mange · 500 000 på et hus · skyldte penger with som fronted · hundre kroner unprinted | owes me $5 · or to her father |
| Credit | NAOB sense 3 · thanks under sense 2 | bare source then thing · or til · or the thing fronted | bevegelsen sitt liv · Tysklands yngre skoler · en stor takk til familien · stor tak … ham | to on success · two objects on my life |
| skylde på | blame, or the property | på + the blamed · or på + the property | på hverandre · på toget · på huset · the two glosses are not one gloss | not the money object of owe |
| skyldes | separate verb · NAOB s-verb | result is the subject · cause is the complement | brannen skyldes uaktsomhet · en ren forglemmelse · at-clause · no Debtor · no til | owe X to Y is a different frame |
Marking map. One verb, more than one complement. The cloth follows the printed line.
Each row lines up one Bokmål slot with the mark English owe prints. Printed lines come first. A constructed line reuses a printed marking. It is labelled constructed.
| Slot | NO form | EN form | Align | NO example | EN example |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Predicate | verb skylde | verb owe | same part of speech · Swedish uses the adjective | verb · skylder Bokmålsordboka | owes me $5 Merriam-Webster |
| Debtor | subject | subject | same place | du · Frank Jensen Bokmålsordboka · NAOB | I owe Janet $50 Cambridge |
| Creditor | bare indirect object | bare object or to | object form of the pronoun · a noun is bare · no dative ending | meg et svar Bokmålsordboka | owes me $5 Merriam-Webster |
| til | til + Creditor | to + Creditor | the thing comes first in the printed money line | penger til mange Bokmålsordboka | owes £3 000 to her father Oxford |
| Credit | bare source · or til | object plus to | shift · sitt liv is a bare object · success is not | bevegelsen sitt liv NAOB | I owe my success to my teachers Merriam-Webster |
| skylde på | på + blamed | not the money frame | a different på is the property | på hverandre Bokmålsordboka | owes me $5 Merriam-Webster |
| skyldes | result subject · cause complement | owe X to Y | shift · no Debtor · no til | brannen skyldes uaktsomhet Bokmålsordboka | I owe my success to my teachers Merriam-Webster |
The strip below is a set of small multiples. Each card holds one frame. The English cards are the two money clothes and the to of success. The Norwegian cards keep the bare double object, til, the two på frames, and skyldes apart.
NO · et svar
du skylder meg et svar
Bokmålsordboka · sense 2 · Creditor then thing · both bare
Same order Creditor then thing, as in owes me $5. The thing here is not a sum.
NO · til mange
han skylder penger til mange
Bokmålsordboka · sense 1 · thing then til
Same cloth English owes £3 000 to her father puts the person in to after the sum.
NO · på et hus
skylde 500 000 på et hus
Bokmålsordboka · sense 1 · på the property · no Creditor
Split NAOB glosses this på as ha gjeld hvilende på. Blame på is a different gloss.
NO · credit · sitt liv
de som skylder bevegelsen sitt liv
NAOB · sense 3 · bare source · bare thing · no til
Move English puts success in the object and the source in to. Here both are bare, source then thing.
NO · blame · på
de skylder på hverandre
Bokmålsordboka · legge skylden på · not a Creditor object
Split The blamed person is not the indirect object of the debt frame.
NO · skyldes
brannen skyldes uaktsomhet
Bokmålsordboka · own verb · result subject · cause complement
Move English owe X to Y keeps a person as subject. NAOB calls this an s-verb with passive basic meaning.
NO · constructed · hundre
Jeg skylder deg hundre kroner
constructed · not a filed frame
Move The order is the printed meg et svar and the gloss skylde noen penger. The sentence is not one citation.
EN · two objects
owes me $5
English owe · Merriam-Webster · person then sum
Move Bokmålsordboka’s money creditor is til mange. The bare person-then-thing lines are meg et svar, not a kroner sum.
EN · to
I owe my success to my teachers
English owe · Merriam-Webster · object then to
Move bevegelsen sitt liv is bare source then bare thing. skyldes makes the result the subject.
The match for owes me $5 is a bare double object, and the printed thing is not the kroner sum. du skylder meg et svar and han skyldte henne en forklaring put the Creditor in an object-form pronoun and the thing in a bare noun. landet and bevegelsen show the same slot with no case ending. English also prints to. Bokmål prints til on penger til mange and en stor takk til familien.
Bokmålsordboka’s money lines are til and på. han skylder penger til mange names the Creditor in til. skylde 500 000 på et hus names the property in på and prints no Creditor. The gloss skylde noen penger is on stå i gjeld til, whose example keeps til and prints no sum. NAOB’s som hennes far skyldte penger is money with the Creditor fronted and no numeral. Jeg skylder deg hundre kroner stacks the double-object order, the object form, and a kroner sum. It is constructed.
Credit is still skylde, with more than one cloth. de som skylder bevegelsen sitt liv is a bare source and a bare thing. bogreoler jeg skylder Tysklands yngre skoler fronts the thing and leaves the source bare. en stor takk til familien uses til. stor tak skylder jeg ham fronts the thanks and leaves ham bare. English success is printed only with to. stå i gjeld til den greske tragedien puts the source in til and does not print a bare theme.
skylde på is not the Creditor. legge skylden på takes på hverandre and på toget. ha gjeld hvilende på takes på huset. The preposition is the same. The gloss is not.
skyldes is the cause frame, and it is not owe to. The result is the subject. The cause is the complement: uaktsomhet, en misforståelse, en ren forglemmelse, or an at-clause. Bokmålsordboka gives skyldes its own paradigm. NAOB calls it an s-verb with passive basic meaning. There is no indirect object on those lines.
Which object the clause treats as the object is the note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note. On the printed double-object lines the subject is the Debtor, the first bare object is the Creditor, and the second bare object is the thing.
Argument difference. English X owes Y Z is one verb. Y is a bare object or to. Z is one bare object. Bokmål X skylder Y Z is printed when Z is a thing such as et svar or sitt liv. Y is then a bare indirect object, an object-form pronoun or a noun with no case ending. The money examples in Bokmålsordboka put the Creditor in til or the property in på. skylde på as blame is a på-phrase. skyldes is a separate frame from owe X to Y.
Printed dictionary lines come first. A line that reuses a printed marking without a citation is labelled as constructed, and it is not filed.
Real · Bokmålsordboka · NAOB
✓ du skylder meg et svar · han skyldte henne en forklaring · hun skylder en stor takk til familien Bokmålsordboka · ha plikt til å gi
✓ han skylder penger til mange · skylde 500 000 på et hus · de skylder på hverandre Bokmålsordboka · ha gjeld · skylde på is legge skylden på
✓ skylde noen penger · de står i stor gjeld til menneskesmuglerne Bokmålsordboka · gjeld · gloss versus example
✓ Frank Jensen skyldte meg en forklaring · som hennes far skyldte penger · de som skylder bevegelsen sitt liv · stor tak skylder jeg ham NAOB · senses 1, 2, and 3
✓ skyldte på toget · skylde på huset · det hele skyldes en ren forglemmelse NAOB · blame på · debt på · s-verb skyldes
✓ brannen skyldes uaktsomhet · det hele skyldes en misforståelse · seieren skyldtes hard trening Bokmålsordboka · skyldes · separate verb
✓ han skuldar meg pengar · ho skuldar 300 000 kroner på huset Nynorskordboka · not a Bokmål clause · double object with pengar · på with kroner
Constructed or unprinted · not a filed frame
Jeg skylder deg hundre kroner. constructed · not a filed frame
the order is du skylder meg et svar and the gloss skylde noen penger · deg is the object form parallel to meg and henne · hundre is not the printed 500 000 · the line is not one citation
Each sketch is a working drawing. skylde gives the Debtor to the subject. A bare double object gives the Creditor to the first object and the thing to the second. Open one sketch at a time. Which theta role is the object is the revisable note Causative templates and argument selection. This page does not edit that note.
Bokmålsordboka sense 2 · NAOB · working, revisable
[ skylder
[ meg ]
[ et svar ] ] ← Debtor subject, du
← Creditor bare, object form
← thing bare
← landet has no case ending
du skylder meg et svar is the printed stack. henne en forklaring, ham en tjeneste, and landet det offer are the same two objects.
✓ du skylder meg et svar Bokmålsordboka
Bokmålsordboka sense 1 · NAOB ha gjeld hvilende på · working, revisable
[ skylder
[ penger ]
[ til mange ] ] ← amount bare
← Creditor in til
[ skylder
[ 500 000 ]
[ på et hus ] ] ← sum
← property, not the blamed person
han skylder penger til mange and skylde 500 000 på et hus are the printed money lines. The gloss skylde noen penger is not either sentence.
✓ penger til mange · på et hus Bokmålsordboka
NAOB sense 3 · Bokmålsordboka thanks · working, revisable
[ skylder
[ bevegelsen ]
[ sitt liv ] ] ← source bare
← thing bare
[ skylder
[ en stor takk ]
[ til familien ] ] ← thing, then til
de som skylder bevegelsen sitt liv is the printed credit double object. stor tak skylder jeg ham fronts the thing. It is not filed as skylder ham takk.
✓ bevegelsen sitt liv NAOB
Bokmålsordboka · NAOB sense 4 · working, revisable
[ skylder
[ på hverandre ] ] ← blame, på-PP
[ skyldes
[ uaktsomhet ] ] ← brannen is the subject
← cause, not a Creditor
← s-verb, passive basic meaning
Blame på and skyldes are not the debt double object. på huset is the other på, the property.
✓ på hverandre · brannen skyldes uaktsomhet Bokmålsordboka
Built on printed markings · working, revisable
[ skylder
[ deg ]
[ hundre kroner ] ] ← constructed
← order from meg et svar
← gloss skylde noen penger
← hundre not the printed numeral
The drawing reuses the bare Creditor-then-thing order and a kroner sum. It does not file the stack.
Jeg skylder deg hundre kroner constructed · not a filed frame
Working paper · October 2026 · Norwegian micro-entry
skylde is a verb. The Creditor of a double object is bare. A full noun has no case ending. skyldes is a separate frame.
Bokmål frames: Bokmålsordboka at ordbokene.no, the articles skylde, skyldes, and gjeld. Det Norske Akademis ordbok, the article skylde, including the s-verb skyldes. Nynorskordboka is cited only for the Nynorsk lines, and those lines are not filed as Bokmål. English clothes are the lines already on owe · English. Constructed clauses are labelled and are not filed.
Records Bokmål debt as the verb skylde. Records the Debtor as the subject, the Creditor of a double object as a bare indirect object, and the thing as a bare second object. Records object-form pronouns and the absence of a case ending on a full noun. Records til on the Creditor and på on the property in the money examples. Records credit on the same verb, blame skylde på as a different på, and skyldes as a separate frame from English owe to. Does not file Jeg skylder deg hundre kroner.