Kunden spør hvorvidt forsikringssummen er høy eller lav.

Kunden is the definite singular form of kunde (customer).

• en kunde = a customer
• kunden = the customer

So the sentence is talking about a specific customer, not just any customer.

Spør is the present tense of å spørre (to ask).

• å spørre = to ask
• spør = asks / is asking

So Kunden spør ... means The customer asks ...

In Norwegian, the present tense is usually quite simple: the verb does not change for different persons.

• jeg spør
• du spør
• han/hun spør
• vi spør

Hvorvidt means something like whether or as to whether.

It introduces an indirect yes/no question:

• Jeg vet ikke hvorvidt det stemmer. = I don’t know whether it is true.
• Hun spør hvorvidt det er mulig. = She asks whether it is possible.

In this sentence, hvorvidt introduces the clause forsikringssummen er høy eller lav.

Yes, in many cases you can.

• Kunden spør om forsikringssummen er høy eller lav.
• Kunden spør hvorvidt forsikringssummen er høy eller lav.

Both can mean The customer asks whether the insurance sum is high or low.

The difference is mainly style:

• om is very common and everyday
• hvorvidt is often a bit more formal or written

So as a learner, om is often the easier everyday choice, but hvorvidt is completely correct.

Because this is an indirect question, not a direct question.

In a direct question, Norwegian usually has verb-first/verb-second question order:

• Er forsikringssummen høy eller lav? = Is the insurance sum high or low?

But after words like om or hvorvidt, Norwegian uses statement word order:

• ... hvorvidt forsikringssummen er høy eller lav

So the subject comes before the verb:

• forsikringssummen = subject
• er = verb

This is very common in Norwegian indirect questions.

It is a compound noun, which is extremely common in Norwegian.

It consists of:

• forsikring = insurance
• sum = sum / amount
• forsikringssum = insurance amount / insured sum
• forsikringssummen = the insurance amount / the sum insured

Notice a few things:

1. Norwegian often joins nouns into one word.
2. The -s- in the middle is a linking element: forsikring + sum → forsikringssum
3. The ending -en makes it definite singular.

Because forsikringssummen is a common gender singular noun, and predicative adjectives usually stay in their base form with common gender singular nouns.

• forsikringssummen er høy
• prisen er lav

If the noun were neuter, you would use -t:

• beløpet er høyt
• nivået er lavt

So here:

• forsikringssummen is not neuter
• therefore høy and lav are correct

Yes. Eller means or.

In this sentence, it links two alternatives:

• høy eller lav = high or low

So the customer is asking which of the two applies.

In normal modern Norwegian, you usually do not put a comma before a subordinate clause like this unless the sentence structure especially requires it.

So this is standard:

• Kunden spør hvorvidt forsikringssummen er høy eller lav.

Older comma habits or some learners’ expectations from English may make a comma seem natural, but in standard Norwegian it is normally left out here.

It is understood by everyone, but it can sound a bit more formal or written than om.

In everyday spoken Norwegian, many people would more naturally say:

• Kunden spør om forsikringssummen er høy eller lav.

So you should definitely recognize hvorvidt, but for casual speech, om is often more frequent.

Yes. The direct-question version would be:

• Er forsikringssummen høy eller lav?

That means Is the insurance sum high or low?

Compare the two:

• Kunden spør hvorvidt forsikringssummen er høy eller lav.
  = reported/indirect question

• Er forsikringssummen høy eller lav?
  = direct question

This contrast is useful because it shows the word-order difference between direct and indirect questions in Norwegian.