Vi brukte mesteparten av dagen.

Brukte is the past tense of bruke.

• bruke = to use, to spend
• brukte = used, spent

So Vi brukte mesteparten av dagen is in the simple past and means that the action happened in the past.

You will often see bruke used about time in Norwegian, where English would usually say spend:

• Vi brukte to timer der. = We spent two hours there.

Yes. In Norwegian, bruke can mean both:

• to use
• to spend (especially time or money)

So in this sentence, brukte means spent, because the object is mesteparten av dagen — a period of time.

For example:

• Jeg bruker en penn. = I use a pen.
• Jeg bruker mye tid på det. = I spend a lot of time on that.

The meaning depends on the context.

Mesteparten means most of it or the greater part.

It is built from:

• meste = most
• parten = the part

Together, mesteparten works like most or the majority in English.

In Norwegian, this is normally written as one word:

• mesteparten av dagen = most of the day

This is very common in Norwegian, where combinations that might look separate in English are often written as compounds.

You need av because Norwegian expresses this idea as most/the greater part of something.

So the structure is:

• mesteparten av + noun

Examples:

• mesteparten av dagen = most of the day
• mesteparten av tiden = most of the time
• mesteparten av pengene = most of the money

Without av, the phrase would sound wrong.

Dagen is the definite form of dag:

• dag = day
• dagen = the day

After mesteparten av, Norwegian usually uses the definite form when referring to a specific whole:

• mesteparten av dagen = most of the day
• mesteparten av boka = most of the book

This is different from English, where of the day may feel like a separate phrase, but in Norwegian the definite noun is the normal choice here.

Yes. Det meste av dagen is also very common and often feels a bit more everyday and natural in many contexts.

Both are correct:

• Vi brukte mesteparten av dagen
• Vi brukte det meste av dagen

A rough difference:

• mesteparten av dagen can sound a little more formal or slightly more like the greater part of the day
• det meste av dagen is often the more conversational way to say most of the day

In many situations, they mean almost the same thing.

This is the normal Norwegian main clause order:

• Vi = subject
• brukte = verb
• mesteparten av dagen = object / time expression

So it follows the basic pattern:

Subject + verb + rest

That is why this sentence looks quite similar to English word order.

If you move another element to the front, Norwegian still keeps the verb in second position:

• I går brukte vi mesteparten av dagen der.

This is part of the usual V2 word order in Norwegian main clauses.

No, that would not be correct here.

With bruke meaning spend, you can say either:

• bruke + time expression
  • Vi brukte mesteparten av dagen
• or bruke + time + på + something
  • Vi brukte mesteparten av dagen på å rydde.
  • We spent most of the day cleaning.

So på is used when you add what the time was spent on, but not before the time expression itself.

Yes, it is completely natural.

It sounds like normal written and spoken Norwegian. A native speaker might also say:

• Vi brukte det meste av dagen
• Vi tilbrakte mesteparten av dagen der

But Vi brukte mesteparten av dagen is a standard and natural sentence.

A rough guide for an English speaker would be:

• Vi ≈ vee
• brukte ≈ BROOK-teh
• mesteparten ≈ MES-teh-par-ten
• av ≈ ahv
• dagen ≈ DAH-gen

A few useful notes:

• u in brukte is not exactly like English oo, but BROOK-teh is a helpful approximation.
• g in dagen is pronounced clearly here.
• The stress is usually near the start of each word: BRUK-te, MES-te-par-ten, DA-gen.

If you are learning Bokmål pronunciation, this approximation is good enough as a starting point.