Lecakulene ligger under plantejorden.

Lecakulene can be broken down like this:

• Leca = lightweight expanded clay, often used in gardening and drainage
• kule = ball, pellet
• -ne / -ene = the definite plural ending

So lecakulene means the LECA balls / the clay pellets.

In practice, Lecakuler or lecakuler is a common gardening word in Norwegian.

Because it is a definite plural form: the clay pellets.

A common pattern for masculine nouns in Bokmål is:

• en kule = a ball / a pellet
• kuler = balls / pellets
• kulene = the balls / the pellets

So:

• lecakuler = LECA balls
• lecakulene = the LECA balls

That ending is doing the job that English does with the separate word the.

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

So:

• plantejord = potting soil / planting soil
• plantejorden = the potting soil

and:

• lecakuler = LECA balls
• lecakulene = the LECA balls

This is one of the biggest differences from English. Norwegian usually puts definiteness at the end of the noun.

Norwegian often uses verbs like ligge, stå, and sitte where English would just use be.

Here, ligger is the present tense of ligge, meaning lie / be lying / be located.

So Lecakulene ligger under plantejorden is more natural than simply saying they are under the soil.

A rough comparison:

• ligge = lie, be lying, be located
• stå = stand, be standing
• sitte = sit, be sitting

For loose objects resting somewhere, ligge is very common.

It might be understood, but it is generally less natural.

Norwegian prefers ligger for the physical location of things like pellets, stones, clothes, books, and similar objects.

So:

• Lecakulene ligger under plantejorden. = natural
• Lecakulene er under plantejorden. = understandable, but not the usual choice here

Because Norwegian very often makes compound nouns by joining words together.

Here:

• plante = plant
• jord = soil
• plantejord = potting soil / planting soil
• plantejorden = the potting soil

English often writes these as separate words, but Norwegian usually joins them into one word.

This is extremely common in Norwegian, so learners should get used to seeing long compound nouns.

The basic form is plantejord.

Then the definite singular form becomes:

• plantejord = potting soil
• plantejorden = the potting soil

So -en here marks definite singular.

Because plantejorden already means the potting soil.

Adding den would usually only happen if you want a more specific structure, often with an adjective, for example:

• den våte plantejorden = the wet potting soil

But in your sentence, plain plantejorden is enough.

No. Modern Norwegian does not have the kind of case changes you may know from German or some other languages.

So after under, the noun does not change because of case. You just use the form you need for meaning:

• under plantejord = under potting soil
• under plantejorden = under the potting soil

The difference here is about definite vs. indefinite, not about case.

It is usually an en word in Bokmål:

• en jord
• jorden = the soil / the earth

That is why you get plantejorden with -en at the end.

Leca originally comes from a brand name. In real-life Norwegian, you may see both Leca and leca, depending on style and context.

So forms like these can occur:

• Lecakuler
• lecakuler

Both may be seen, especially in gardening contexts.

A learner-friendly approximation is:

LE-ka-koo-le-ne

A few notes:

• Leca is usually pronounced roughly LE-ka
• ku in kuler sounds like koo
• the final -e in -ne is pronounced, though often lightly

The exact pronunciation can vary a bit, but that approximation will get you close.

A simple approximation is:

PLAN-te-yor-den

A few points:

• plante sounds roughly like PLAN-te
• jord begins with a y sound, not an English j sound
• so jord is closer to yord
• plantejorden is therefore roughly PLAN-te-yor-den

Yes. Norwegian can move parts of the sentence for emphasis.

For example:

• Lecakulene ligger under plantejorden.
• Under plantejorden ligger lecakulene.

Both are grammatical. The second version puts more focus on under plantejorden.

Remember that Norwegian is a V2 language, so when something else comes first, the finite verb usually stays in second position:

• Under plantejorden ligger lecakulene.

The infinitive is å ligge = to lie / to be located.

Its common forms are:

• å ligge = to lie
• ligger = lies / is lying / is located
• lå = lay / was lying
• har ligget = has lain / has been lying

So in your sentence, ligger is the present tense.

This is Bokmål.

A learner will most often encounter this sentence as Bokmål because forms like:

• ligger
• plantejorden
• lecakulene

fit standard Bokmål usage.