Vi sliter med problemet.

Sliter is the present tense of the verb å slite.

In this sentence, sliter means struggle or be struggling.
So the verb pattern is:

• å slite = infinitive, to struggle
• sliter = present tense, struggle / am struggling / are struggling / is struggling

A useful point: Norwegian verbs do not change according to the subject the way English verbs sometimes do. So you get:

• jeg sliter
• du sliter
• vi sliter

The verb form stays the same.

It can mean both, depending on context.

Norwegian present tense often covers both:

• English we struggle
• English we are struggling

So Vi sliter med problemet can be understood as either a general statement or something happening right now. Context tells you which is intended.

Because Norwegian usually does not need a separate auxiliary for this kind of present-tense sentence.

In English, you often say:

• We struggle
• We are struggling

But in Norwegian, the single verb sliter can cover both ideas. That is very normal. You do not need a separate word corresponding to English are here.

Yes, very often it is.

Å slite med noe is a very common expression meaning to struggle with something.

So in this sentence:

• sliter med = struggle with

This is something English speakers should learn as a unit, not just as a random verb plus preposition.

No, not in this meaning.

If you want to say struggle with the problem, Norwegian normally needs the preposition med:

• Vi sliter med problemet

Without med, the sentence would sound wrong for this meaning. So it is best to remember the pattern:

• å slite med noe = to struggle with something

Here med means with.

It introduces what the struggle is connected to:

• med problemet = with the problem

In Norwegian, many verbs naturally go with specific prepositions, just like in English.
So even though med often translates directly as with, the important thing here is really the full combination slite med.

Because problemet is the definite form, meaning the problem.

Norwegian usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front.

So:

• et problem = a problem
• problemet = the problem

That ending -et is doing the job that English the does.

Problem is a neuter noun in Norwegian.

That is why you get:

• et problem = a problem
• problemet = the problem

If you want the plural:

• problemer = problems
• problemene = the problems

So the full pattern is:

• indefinite singular: et problem
• definite singular: problemet
• indefinite plural: problemer
• definite plural: problemene

The basic word order is:

• Vi = subject
• sliter = verb
• med problemet = prepositional phrase

So the structure is essentially:

Subject + Verb + Prepositional phrase

This is the normal, straightforward order for a simple main clause in Norwegian.

Yes. Å slite can have more than one meaning depending on context.

Common meanings include:

• to struggle
• to work very hard
• to wear out / wear down

But in the pattern å slite med noe, the meaning is usually to struggle with something.

So in this sentence, that is the natural interpretation.

Because vi is the subject form meaning we.

In this sentence, we are the ones doing the action, so Norwegian uses the subject pronoun vi.

That is why the sentence begins with:

• Vi sliter ... = We are struggling ...

If Norwegian needed the object form us, it would use oss instead, but that is not the case here.