Hun møter eksen på kafeen.

Møter is the present tense form of the verb å møte (to meet).

• å møte = infinitive, to meet
• møter = present tense, meets / is meeting

So:

• Hun møter ... = She meets ... / She is meeting ...

Norwegian verbs do not change for person the way English verbs do very much. The same present-tense form is used with all subjects:

• jeg møter
• du møter
• hun møter
• vi møter

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

So:

• en eks = an ex
• eksen = the ex

and:

• en kafé / kafe = a café
• kafeen = the café

This is one of the big differences from English. Instead of saying the café, Norwegian often says café-the, in effect.

Eksen means the ex or the ex-partner.

It comes from eks, which is a common informal word for ex in the same way English uses ex. Adding -en makes it definite:

• eks = ex
• eksen = the ex

In real usage, it usually means a former boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or partner, depending on context.

With places like cafés, restaurants, schools, work, and similar locations, Norwegian often uses på where English would use at or sometimes in.

So:

• på kafeen = at the café

This is very natural Norwegian. In many contexts, på is the normal preposition for being at or going to a public place or activity setting.

Very roughly:

• på often points to being at a place/activity
• i often points more clearly to being inside something

But this is not a perfect rule, so it is best to learn common combinations as vocabulary:

• på skolen = at school
• på jobb = at work
• på restaurant = at a restaurant
• på kafeen = at the café

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things in emphasis.

• på kafeen = at the café, usually a specific café known from context
• på kafé = at a café / in a café setting, less specific

So Hun møter eksen på kafeen suggests a particular café, or at least one both speakers know about.

Compare:

• Vi sitter på kafé. = We’re sitting in/at a café.
• Vi sitter på kafeen ved torget. = We’re at the café by the square.

Yes. Norwegian present tense often covers both the simple present and the present progressive meanings that English separates.

So this sentence can mean:

• She meets the ex at the café
• She is meeting the ex at the café

Which meaning feels right depends on context.

It can also sometimes refer to a planned future event, similar to English:

• Hun møter eksen på kafeen i morgen. = She is meeting her ex at the café tomorrow.

This is the normal Norwegian main clause word order:

• Hun = subject
• møter = verb
• eksen = object
• på kafeen = prepositional phrase

So the pattern is basically:

Subject + Verb + Object + Place

That is very similar to English here.

However, Norwegian has an important V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb usually comes in the second position. So if you move another element to the front, the verb still stays second:

• Hun møter eksen på kafeen.
• På kafeen møter hun eksen.
• I dag møter hun eksen på kafeen.

Notice that møter still comes early.

You may see both forms depending on spelling choice and style.

The noun is often written:

• kafé
• kafe

And the definite singular can be written:

• kaféen
• kafeen

In modern Norwegian, especially Bokmål, kafe and kafeen are very common and fully acceptable. So på kafeen is normal.

The t in møter is usually softer than an English t, and the word is roughly pronounced like MUR-ter or MØ-ter, depending on how you represent the vowel for English speakers.

A few useful points:

• ø is a vowel English does not really have
• it is not the same as o
• the ending -er in Norwegian is often a light unstressed ending

So the main challenge is really the vowel ø.

Yes, in standard modern Norwegian, hun is the usual subject pronoun for she.

Object form:

• hun = she
• henne = her

So:

• Hun møter eksen. = She meets the ex.
• Jeg ser henne. = I see her.

You may also hear ho in some dialects and in Nynorsk, but hun is standard Bokmål.

Yes, but it changes the wording and emphasis.

• eksen = the ex, with the person understood from context
• sin eks / hennes eks = her ex

So you could say:

• Hun møter eksen på kafeen.
• Hun møter sin eks på kafeen.
• Hun møter hennes eks på kafeen. ← this usually means someone else’s ex, not her own

A very important point:

• sin/sitt/sine usually refers back to the subject of the clause
• hennes usually refers to some other female person, or adds contrast

So if you want to make it explicit that it is her own ex, sin eks is often the clearer choice. But eksen is perfectly natural when context already makes that obvious.