Jeg snakker med advokaten.

In Norwegian, the is usually added to the end of the noun instead of written as a separate word.

• en advokat = a lawyer
• advokaten = the lawyer

Here, advokat is a common-gender noun, and the definite singular ending is -en.

So:

• Jeg snakker med en advokat = I am talking to a lawyer
• Jeg snakker med advokaten = I am talking to the lawyer

Snakker is the present tense of the verb å snakke, which means to speak or to talk.

So:

• å snakke = to speak / to talk
• snakker = speak / am speaking / talk / am talking, depending on context

Norwegian verbs are simpler than English verbs in this way, because the same present-tense form is used with all subjects:

• jeg snakker = I speak / I am speaking
• du snakker = you speak / you are speaking
• vi snakker = we speak / we are speaking

It can mean both.

Norwegian usually uses the simple present where English might use either:

• I speak
• I am speaking
• I talk
• I am talking

The exact meaning depends on context. So Jeg snakker med advokaten can mean either:

• I talk to the lawyer
• I am talking to the lawyer

Med usually means with, but after snakke, it often corresponds to English with or to.

So snakke med noen means:

• talk with someone
• talk to someone

This is a very common pattern in Norwegian.

There is also snakke til, but that often sounds more one-way, like speaking to someone rather than having a conversation with them. In everyday situations, snakke med is usually the most natural choice.

Because å is only used with the infinitive form of the verb, like English to.

• å snakke = to speak
• snakker = speak / am speaking

In a normal sentence, after the subject, you use the finite verb form, not the infinitive.

So:

• Jeg vil snakke = I want to speak
• Jeg snakker = I am speaking / I speak

Advokat is normally a common-gender noun in Bokmål, so its indefinite form is:

• en advokat = a lawyer

Because it is common gender, the definite singular becomes:

• advokaten = the lawyer

Yes, the gender matters, because it affects which article and definite ending the noun takes.

For comparison:

• common gender: en bil → bilen
• neuter: et hus → huset

You usually make a yes/no question in Norwegian by putting the verb before the subject.

Statement:

• Jeg snakker med advokaten.

Question:

• Snakker jeg med advokaten?

This is a very common word-order pattern in Norwegian.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• Jeg ≈ yai
• snakker ≈ SNAK-er
• med ≈ meh or sometimes almost me in natural speech
• advokaten ≈ ad-vo-KAH-ten

So the whole sentence is roughly:

yai SNAK-er meh ad-vo-KAH-ten

Actual pronunciation varies by dialect, and jeg in particular can sound quite different around Norway.

Because Norwegian does not capitalize all nouns.

Only the first word of the sentence and proper names are capitalized, so:

• Jeg is capitalized because it starts the sentence.
• advokaten is lowercase because it is a normal noun.

This is different from German, where all nouns are capitalized.

Not for the noun advokaten.

In this sentence, advokaten stays in its normal noun form after the preposition med. Norwegian nouns do not change form for case in the same way that nouns do in languages like German.

So after med, you simply use the noun:

• med advokaten = with/to the lawyer

Pronouns do change form, though:

• jeg = I
• meg = me

So you would say:

• Hun snakker med meg = She is talking to me