Innekatten ser på kattelemmen som om den vil ut.

Innekatten means the indoor cat or the house cat.

It is one word because Norwegian very often makes compound nouns by joining words together:

• inne = indoors / inside
• katt = cat
• innekatt = indoor cat
• innekatten = the indoor cat

The ending -en is the definite ending for many masculine/common-gender nouns, so katten means the cat, and innekatten means the indoor cat.

Because å se på means to look at.

There is an important difference:

• å se = to see
• å se på = to look at / watch

So:

• Katten ser fuglen. = The cat sees the bird.
• Katten ser på fuglen. = The cat is looking at the bird.

In your sentence, the cat is actively directing its gaze toward the cat flap, so ser på is the natural choice.

Kattelemmen means the cat flap or the cat door.

It is another compound noun:

• katt → in compounds often becomes katte-
• lem = hatch / flap
• kattelem = cat flap
• kattelemmen = the cat flap

The definite ending here is also -en, but because the base word already ends in -m, you get kattelemmen with double m.

Som om means as if.

It introduces a comparison about how something seems or appears:

• Han snakker som om han vet alt. = He speaks as if he knows everything.
• Katten ser på lemmen som om den vil ut. = The cat looks at the flap as if it wants to go out.

So the sentence does not necessarily state directly that the cat will go out; it describes the way the cat is behaving.

Den here means it, and it refers to the cat.

Both innekatten and kattelemmen are grammatically nouns that can be referred to with den, so grammar alone does not completely remove the ambiguity. Context does the work here: a cat can want to go out, while a cat flap cannot.

So in this sentence, den is naturally understood as the indoor cat.

If someone wanted to make it completely explicit, they could say:

• ... som om katten vil ut. = ... as if the cat wants to go out.

Because den is used for common-gender nouns, while det is used for neuter nouns.

For example:

• en katt → katten → den
• en kattelem → kattelemmen → den
• et hus → huset → det

Since katt and kattelem are common-gender nouns, den is the correct pronoun.

Vil ut means wants to go out.

Very often in Norwegian, the verb of movement is left out when it is obvious. So instead of saying:

• vil gå ut = wants to go out

Norwegian often simply says:

• vil ut

This is very natural and common.

Similar examples:

• Jeg vil hjem. = I want to go home.
• Hun må inn. = She has to go in.
• Barna løp ut. = The children ran out.

So ut works as a direction word, and the idea of movement is understood.

No. Here ut is an adverb of direction.

It tells you the direction of movement: out.

Compare:

• ut = out / outward
• inn = in / inward
• opp = up
• ned = down
• hjem = home

In den vil ut, ut does not take an object, so it is not acting like a preposition.

Because som om introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses in Norwegian normally have subject + verb order.

So:

• den vil ut = it wants out

After som om, that same basic subordinate-clause order stays:

• som om den vil ut = as if it wants out

This is normal. Norwegian inversion happens in many main clauses, but not usually after subordinating expressions like som om.

Because the sentence is talking about a specific cat and a specific cat flap.

• innekatt = an indoor cat

• innekatten = the indoor cat

• kattelem = a cat flap
• kattelemmen = the cat flap

In context, this sounds like a known cat looking at a known flap, so the definite form is natural.

A less specific version would be:

• En innekatt ser på en kattelem ... = An indoor cat looks at a cat flap ...

But that would sound more general, like the beginning of a story or a general statement.

Sometimes yes, but you should be careful.

Innekatt specifically emphasizes that the cat lives indoors. In English, house cat can mean either:

1. a domestic cat in general, or
2. a cat kept inside the house

So in many contexts, indoor cat is the clearest translation for innekatt.

Not quite directly. The phrase som om means as if, so the sentence describes an appearance or impression.

It means something like:

• the cat is looking at the flap in a way that suggests it wants to go out

So the speaker is interpreting the cat’s behavior, not stating it as a hard fact.

Yes, and that would change the tone slightly.

• som om den vil ut = as if it wants to go out
• som om den ville ut = as if it wanted to go out

The version with ville can sound a bit more hypothetical, softer, or more narrative depending on context. In everyday Norwegian, both kinds of patterns can appear, but vil in your sentence is perfectly natural.

Yes. In Norwegian, it is very common to use den about an animal, especially when the sex is unknown or unimportant.

So:

• Katten er søt. Den sover. = The cat is cute. It is sleeping.

If the speaker wants to emphasize the animal’s sex or treat it more personally, they may use:

• han = he
• hun = she

But in a neutral sentence like this one, den is completely normal.

The sentence breaks down like this:

• Innekatten = subject
• ser på = verb phrase
• kattelemmen = object of på
• som om den vil ut = comparison clause meaning as if it wants to go out

So literally, it is:

• The indoor cat looks at the cat flap as if it wants out.

That is why the full natural English meaning becomes something like The indoor cat is looking at the cat flap as if it wants to go outside.