Vi lukter gassen.

Vi means we. It is the subject of the sentence — the people doing the action of smelling.

So the structure is:

• Vi = we
• lukter = smell
• gassen = the gas

This is a very normal subject-verb-object sentence in Norwegian.

Lukte is the infinitive, meaning to smell.

Lukter is the present tense, meaning smell / are smelling.

So:

• å lukte = to smell
• lukter = smell / am smelling / is smelling / are smelling

Norwegian verbs do not change for person the way English verbs sometimes do. That means:

• jeg lukter = I smell
• du lukter = you smell
• vi lukter = we smell

The verb form stays the same.

It can mean both, depending on the sentence.

In Vi lukter gassen, it means we smell the gas — we can detect it with our noses.

But lukte can also mean to smell of / to have a smell:

• Gassen lukter. = The gas smells.
• Det lukter gass. = It smells like gas / There is a smell of gas.

So the structure helps you understand the meaning:

• someone + lukter + something = someone smells something
• something + lukter = something smells / gives off a smell

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

So:

• en gass = a gas
• gassen = the gas

This ending -en marks the noun as definite.

That is one of the big differences from English: English uses a separate word (the), while Norwegian often uses a suffix.

The base form is gass, which means gas.

Its forms are:

• en gass = a gas
• gassen = the gas

So in the sentence, gassen is simply the definite singular form.

No, this sentence has very straightforward word order.

It follows the basic pattern:

• Subject
  • Verb
    • Object

So:

• Vi = subject
• lukter = verb
• gassen = object

This looks very similar to English: We smell the gas.

Norwegian main clauses often follow the verb-second rule, but when the subject comes first, the sentence can look just like normal English word order.

Yes, but it changes the nuance.

• Vi lukter gassen usually means we smell the gas in the sense that we notice its smell.
• Vi lukter på gassen suggests we are smelling/sniffing the gas deliberately.

So på often adds the idea of actively smelling at something.

Compare:

• Jeg lukter kaffen. = I smell the coffee.
• Jeg lukter på kaffen. = I smell/sniff the coffee.

Norwegian present tense often covers both ideas that English separates into:

• we smell
• we are smelling

So Vi lukter gassen can mean either one, depending on context.

Norwegian does have ways to emphasize an ongoing action, but very often the simple present is enough.

You would usually put ikke after the verb:

• Vi lukter ikke gassen. = We do not smell the gas.

This is a common Norwegian pattern:

• subject + verb + ikke
  • object

So:

• Vi = we
• lukter = smell
• ikke = not
• gassen = the gas

In some contexts, gassen can also mean the accelerator or the gas pedal in informal usage. But in Vi lukter gassen, that interpretation does not fit naturally, because you do not normally smell the accelerator.

So here it clearly means the gas as a substance.