De ansatte svarer ja, men de vil slutte klokken fire.

The employees answer yes, but they want to stop at four o’clock.

Breakdown of De ansatte svarer ja, men de vil slutte klokken fire.

• men: but
• de: they
• ville: to want
• svare: to answer

Questions & Answers about De ansatte svarer ja, men de vil slutte klokken fire.

What does de ansatte mean, and why is ansatte used as a noun here?

De ansatte literally means the employed ones — in plain English, the employees. In Norwegian, adjectives like ansatt (employed) can function as nouns when you add de for the plural:
• de ansatte = those who are employed = the employees

Why is svarer ja used here instead of sier ja, and how does that work grammatically?

Norwegians use both svare – to answer/respond – and si – to say – with ja/nei. svarer ja emphasizes responding with yes. Grammatically, ja is the direct object, so you follow the usual Subject–Verb–Object order:
De ansatte (S) – svarer (V) – ja (O)

What does vil slutte mean in this context? Does vil express future tense or a desire?

Here, vil expresses desire or intention — want to. So vil slutte means want to finish/stop. If you need a pure future sense, you could say skal slutte or kommer til å slutte.

Why isn’t there an before in ?