Why do I need to know klein?

Klein is a Norwegian expression which can express several things. It can be used as an informal way of saying that you feel embarrassed, hungover or sick. 

However, the term is most commonly used to express embarrassment or, more specifically, awkwardness in a conversation.

Klein, is a way of twisting the expression kleint, which describes something awkward. While they may appear to be the same word with just a letter chopped off, there are rules for using them to ensure you are grammatically correct. 

Kleint refers to a situation. Bumping into an ex when you’re looking a bit rough is a situation that would be described as kleint. 

For example, when you see your ex, you’ll think something like dette er kjempekleint!” to yourself, which means “this is super awkward”.

As with the example above, you can latch an intensifier, like kjempe, onto the word to help you express the situation’s awkwardness. 

When using klein, you are referring to your own personal feelings or describing another person rather than a situation. 

Out of the two, kleint is the more commonly and widely used of the expressions. 

Use it like this

Du var skikkelig klein på møtet i dag tidlig. Hva skjer?

(You were really awkward in the meeting this morning. What’s up?) 

Jeg møtte eksen min på butikken i helgen. Jeg visste ikke hva jeg skulle si og var kjempeklein!

(I met my ex in the grocery store this weekend. I didn’t know what to say and was so awkward!)