Vi hørte alarmen.

In Norwegian, the definite article is often attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

• alarm = alarm
• alarmen = the alarm

So alarmen already includes the meaning of the alarm. This is very common in Norwegian:

• bok = book
• boken / boka = the book

In this sentence, alarmen is the definite singular form.

Here is the sentence broken down:

• Vi = we
• hørte = heard
• alarmen = the alarm

So the structure is:

• Vi = subject
• hørte = verb
• alarmen = object

This is a very normal Norwegian sentence pattern: subject + verb + object.

Hørte is the past tense of å høre.

• å høre = to hear
• hører = hear / am hearing / are hearing in the present
• hørte = heard in the past

So:

• Vi hører alarmen = We hear the alarm
• Vi hørte alarmen = We heard the alarm

Because å høre is one of the verbs that forms the past tense with -te.

• infinitive: å høre
• present: hører
• past: hørte
• past participle: hørt

This is a normal pattern for many Norwegian verbs, though not all verbs follow exactly the same pattern.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

• hørte ≈ HUR-tuh, but with the Norwegian ø sound

The tricky part is ø, which does not exist in standard English. It is somewhat like the vowel in French peur or German hören.

Also:

• rt in many Norwegian dialects becomes a retroflex sound, so hørte may sound smoother than an English speaker expects.
• The final -e is usually a weak unstressed vowel, like uh.

Not exactly.

• å høre = to hear
• å lytte (til) = to listen (to)

So Vi hørte alarmen means We heard the alarm, not We listened to the alarm.

English sometimes uses hear and listen differently, and Norwegian does too.

Because Vi is the subject form of we.

• vi = we
• oss = us

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

Compare:

• Vi hørte alarmen. = We heard the alarm.
• Alarmen vekket oss. = The alarm woke us.

In the second sentence, oss is used because us is receiving the action.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• Vi hørte alarmen = We heard the alarm
• Vi hørte en alarm = We heard an alarm

Use alarmen when the alarm is specific or already known in context. Use en alarm when it is not specific.

So the choice between en alarm and alarmen works much like an alarm vs the alarm in English.

No, this is the basic Norwegian main-clause word order:

• Subject + Verb + Object

So:

• Vi = subject
• hørte = verb
• alarmen = object

This is very similar to English in a simple statement.

However, Norwegian often has verb-second word order, so if another element comes first, the verb still usually stays in second position:

• I går hørte vi alarmen. = Yesterday we heard the alarm.

Notice that hørte comes before vi there.

Alarm is usually a masculine noun in Bokmål, which is why the definite singular form is alarmen.

Typical pattern for masculine nouns:

• en alarm = an alarm
• alarmen = the alarm

Yes, gender matters because it affects articles and endings.

Usually it refers to a completed event in the past: We heard the alarm.

The Norwegian past tense hørte works a lot like the English simple past heard. The exact nuance depends on context.

For example:

• Plutselig hørte vi alarmen. = Suddenly we heard the alarm.
• Da vi satt i stua, hørte vi alarmen. = While we were sitting in the living room, we heard the alarm.

So the form itself is straightforward past tense, and context fills in the rest.