Norwegian word choices
Lagre vs spare: two meanings of ‘save’
English uses ‘save’ for both files and money. In Norwegian, use lagre for saving a file and spare for putting money aside or spending less. Try four everyday situations.
One English word, two different actions
Lagre is the usual word for saving a file, document or photo in an app or on a device. Lagre filen means “Save the file”. You are keeping digital information so it is available later.
Spare is used for saving money. It covers both putting money aside and reducing what you spend: spare penger til en ferie means saving money for a holiday, while spare penger på mat means spending less on food.
A Save button and a discount do not use the same word
An app button commonly says Lagre. An offer telling you to save money might say Spar. Spar is the command form of spare; the infinitive has an extra e. The exercise uses the infinitives lagre and spare after words such as må, vil and kan.
These are two common meanings of “save”, not every use of either Norwegian verb. Lagre also covers storage beyond digital files, and spare can concern other resources, such as time. Avoid translating every English “save” with the same Norwegian word.
See Det Norske Akademis ordbok on lagre and Bokmålsordboka on spare for the meanings. The situations and practice notes here are original examples.
Four practice notes
Keep these examples for learning
Each note keeps the situation, sentence and explanation together.
Prompt
You have edited a document and want to keep the changes before closing it. Jeg må ___ dokumentet før jeg lukker det. Choose lagre or spare.
Answer and explanation
Jeg må lagre dokumentet før jeg lukker det. I need to save the document before I close it. Lagre means saving the document so the changes are kept. This is the Save action in an app, not putting money aside.
Prompt
You want to put some money aside each month for a holiday. Jeg vil ___ penger til en ferie. Choose lagre or spare.
Answer and explanation
Jeg vil spare penger til en ferie. I want to save money for a holiday. Spare means setting money aside here. You are building up savings for something you want to pay for later.
Prompt
You want to keep a downloaded photo on your computer so you can open it later. Jeg vil ___ bildet på datamaskinen. Choose lagre or spare.
Answer and explanation
Jeg vil lagre bildet på datamaskinen. I want to save the picture on the computer. Lagre is the usual word for storing a digital file. Here the picture is being saved on a computer.
Prompt
A monthly pass costs less than buying separate tickets. You are talking about spending less money. Jeg kan ___ penger ved å kjøpe månedskort. Choose lagre or spare.
Answer and explanation
Jeg kan spare penger ved å kjøpe månedskort. I can save money by buying a monthly pass. Spare can mean reducing what you spend, as well as putting money aside. The saving here is a lower transport cost.