sjå ut

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

Literally, “look out”. Perhaps a calque of Middle Low German ûtsēn. Compare Norwegian Bokmål and Swedish se ut, Danish se ud, Dutch uitzien, Yiddish אויסזען (oyszen) and German aussehen. Same semantic construction as Russian выглядеть (vygljadetʹ), Polish wyglądać, Hungarian kinéz and modern Icelandic líta út.

Verb

sjå ut (present tense ser ut, past tense såg ut, supine sett ut)

1. (intransitive) to seem, appear, look

   Sara ser fin ut i den kjolen.

   Sarah looks good in that dress.

   Det ser ut til å fungere.

   It seems to be working.

2. (intransitive, negative) to be unpleasant to look at

   Rommet mitt ser ikkje ut.

   My room is very untidy.

3. (transitive; and sometimes also reflexive) to choose, elect

   Dei laut sjå ut kandidatar til oppdraget.

   They were to elect candidates for the task.

   Sjå (deg) ut dei du har lyst på.

   Pick those you want.

Derived terms

• sjå ut som eit levande spørsmålsteikn