Sceneskrekken er riktignok sterk, men nølingen stopper.

Because the sentence is talking about the stage fright and the hesitation as specific, identifiable things.

• sceneskrekk = stage fright

• sceneskrekken = the stage fright

• nøling = hesitation
• nølingen = the hesitation

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun:

• en bok = a book
• boka / boken = the book

So here, -en marks definiteness.

Riktignok means something like:

• admittedly
• to be sure
• indeed

It often introduces a concession: something is true, but another point follows.

So in this sentence:

• Sceneskrekken er riktignok sterk, men ...

the feeling is:

• The stage fright is certainly strong, but ...

It sets up a contrast with the second clause introduced by men.

In a normal Norwegian main clause, the finite verb usually comes in second position. This is the well-known V2 rule.

Here the structure is:

• Sceneskrekken = first element
• er = finite verb in second position
• riktignok = adverb
• sterk = adjective

So:

• Sceneskrekken er riktignok sterk

is the expected word order.

If you moved riktignok to the front, the verb would still have to stay second:

• Riktignok er sceneskrekken sterk, men ...

That is possible, but it sounds more marked or literary.

Because sterk is a predicate adjective agreeing with sceneskrekken, which is a common gender noun.

Compare:

• en bil er sterk = a car is strong
• et argument er sterkt = an argument is strong

Since sceneskrekk is common gender (en sceneskrekk), the adjective stays:

• sterk

If the noun were neuter, you would expect:

• sterkt

Sceneskrekk is a compound noun:

• scene = stage
• skrekk = fear / terror

Together, sceneskrekk means stage fright.

Compound nouns are very common in Norwegian, and they are usually written as one word, not two.

Nølingen comes from the noun nøling, which means hesitation.

It is related to the verb:

• å nøle = to hesitate

So the pattern is:

• å nøle = to hesitate
• nøling = hesitation
• nølingen = the hesitation

This is a very common way of forming nouns in Norwegian: a verb can become a noun describing the action or state.

Here stopper means stops or comes to a stop.

The verb å stoppe can be used both:

1. Intransitively: something stops

   • Bilen stopper. = The car stops.

2. Transitively: someone stops something

   • Hun stopper bilen. = She stops the car.

In your sentence, it is intransitive:

• nølingen stopper = the hesitation stops

Because men is a coordinating conjunction, like but in English.

After men, you usually start a new main clause with normal main-clause word order:

• Sceneskrekken er riktignok sterk, men nølingen stopper.

That means:

• men
  • subject + verb

This is different from some sentence-opening adverbs, where inversion happens:

• Derfor stopper nølingen. = Therefore the hesitation stops.

But after men, no such inversion is required.

It is grammatically understandable, but nølingen stopper may sound a little unusual depending on context.

A Norwegian speaker might more naturally say things like:

• Sceneskrekken er riktignok sterk, men nølingen gir seg.
• Sceneskrekken er riktignok sterk, men hun slutter å nøle.
• Sceneskrekken er riktignok sterk, men nølingen tar slutt.

Why? Because hesitation is often described with expressions like:

• gir seg = lets up / goes away
• tar slutt = comes to an end
• slutter å nøle = stops hesitating

So the original sentence is not impossible, but it may feel a bit less idiomatic than some alternatives.

Not always. Its best English translation depends on context.

Common possibilities are:

• admittedly
• indeed
• certainly
• granted
• to be sure

In many sentences, riktignok signals:

• this is true, but there is another side to it

So it often works together with men:

• Han er riktignok ung, men klok.
  = He is admittedly young, but wise.

So rather than memorizing one exact translation, it is better to think of riktignok as a concession marker.

It is in the present tense.

• er = is
• stopper = stops

Norwegian present tense is often formed with -r on the verb:

• å være → er (irregular)
• å stoppe → stopper

So the sentence describes something happening now, or a general situation in the present.