Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Han kjøpte en liten gave til henne fordi hun hadde bursdag. - He bought a small gift for her because it was her birthday.

Kjøpte is the simple past tense form of the verb kjøpe, which means "to buy." It tells us that the action of buying happened in the past, with han (he) as the subject performing that action.

How does the phrase "en liten gave" work in terms of article usage and adjective agreement?

In Norwegian, adjectives must agree with the noun they describe. Here, gave is a common gender singular noun, so the indefinite article en is used. The adjective liten appears in its form that matches an indefinite common gender singular noun. Together, "en liten gave" means "a small gift."

What role does the prepositional phrase "til henne" play in the sentence?

The phrase til henne indicates the recipient of the action—it tells us who the gift was for. In this context, til functions like the English word "to" or "for," and henne means "her."

How is the subordinate clause "fordi hun hadde bursdag" structured, and does its word order differ from that of the main clause?

Fordi hun hadde bursdag is a subordinate clause that explains the reason for the action ("because she had a birthday"). The clause begins with the subordinating conjunction fordi and then follows the standard subject-verb(-object) order—hun (subject) comes first, followed by hadde (verb) and bursdag (the complement). This structure is very similar to the main clause, so Norwegian does not require a different word order in such subordinate clauses.

Why is the expression "hun hadde bursdag" used to indicate that it was her birthday?

In Norwegian, as in English, it is idiomatic to say someone "had a birthday" rather than using a verb that means "celebrated." The construction "å ha bursdag" (literally, "to have a birthday") is the standard way of expressing that a birthday occurred. Here, hadde is just the past tense of ha, indicating that the birthday happened.

How can you identify the direct object in this sentence, and why is "en liten gave" considered the direct object?

The direct object is generally the noun or noun phrase that receives the action of the verb. After the verb kjøpte (bought), we see "en liten gave," which tells us what was bought. Its position immediately after the verb makes it clear that it is the direct object.

Is the overall word order of the sentence typical of Norwegian sentence structure?

Yes, this sentence follows standard Norwegian syntax. It starts with the subject (han), continues with the verb (kjøpte), then the direct object (en liten gave), followed by the indirect object expressed by the prepositional phrase (til henne), and finishes with a subordinate clause giving the reason (fordi hun hadde bursdag). This order is logical and common in Norwegian, much like in English.