Hagehanskene og spaden ligger ved kompostbingen.

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

Here, hage + hansker becomes hagehansker, meaning garden gloves / gardening gloves. Then the definite plural ending is added:

• en hagehanske = a gardening glove
• hagehansker = gardening gloves
• hagehanskene = the gardening gloves

This is very normal in Norwegian.

The ending -ne marks the definite plural.

So:

• hagehansker = gardening gloves
• hagehanskene = the gardening gloves

English uses the separate word the, but Norwegian often adds definiteness directly to the noun.

Because spaden is the definite singular form.

• spade = a spade
• spaden = the spade

So the sentence uses definite forms for both nouns:

• hagehanskene = the gardening gloves
• spaden = the spade

A learner may also see spada in Bokmål, because spade is originally a feminine noun. But spaden is also very common and fully correct.

For the same reason: kompostbingen means the compost bin.

The base noun is kompostbinge:

• en kompostbinge = a compost bin
• kompostbingen = the compost bin

So the whole sentence is talking about specific, known items and a specific compost bin.

Ved means by, beside, next to, or near.

So ved kompostbingen means that the gloves and the spade are located near the compost bin, not inside it or on top of it.

Compare:

• ved kompostbingen = by the compost bin
• i kompostbingen = in the compost bin
• på kompostbingen = on the compost bin

Norwegian often prefers a position verb where English would simply use is/are.

Ligge literally means to lie, but it is also often used for things that are located somewhere, especially when they are lying or resting horizontally.

So ligger ved kompostbingen sounds natural for objects like gloves and a spade that are lying there.

If you used er, the sentence would be more general and usually less natural in this kind of physical-location description.

Because Norwegian verbs do not change form for singular vs. plural subjects in the present tense.

So you get:

• jeg ligger = I lie / am lying
• du ligger = you lie / are lying
• han ligger = he lies / is lying
• de ligger = they lie / are lying

That means hagehanskene og spaden ligger is completely normal. The verb form stays the same.

Yes, in a sentence like this, ligger can describe the overall situation naturally, especially if the items are just resting on the ground or in a pile.

If you were talking only about a spade and it was clearly upright, Norwegian might prefer står:

• Spaden står ved kompostbingen. = The spade is standing by the compost bin.

But when two different objects are mentioned together, ligger is often a natural choice if the general idea is simply that they are lying there.

Yes. The sentence can be rearranged for emphasis, but Norwegian still follows the verb-second rule in main clauses.

Normal order:

• Hagehanskene og spaden ligger ved kompostbingen.

If you move the place phrase to the front, the verb must come second:

• Ved kompostbingen ligger hagehanskene og spaden.

That is also correct. What you cannot normally do is move the first phrase and leave the subject before the verb.

The basic forms are:

• en hagehanske = a gardening glove
• en/ei spade = a spade
• en kompostbinge = a compost bin
• å ligge = to lie / to be lying

This is useful because Norwegian sentences often contain nouns in definite forms and verbs in conjugated forms, not the dictionary forms.