Questions & Answers about Hun betaler regningen på kaféen før hun går til skogen.
In Norwegian you don’t use a separate “the.” Instead you add a suffix to the noun:
• regning = a bill (indefinite) → regningen = the bill (definite)
• kafé = a café (indefinite) → kaféen = the café (definite)
Masculine/feminine nouns typically take -en, neuter takes -et.
The preposition på is used for many public places, venues or establishments in Norwegian:
• på kafé (at a café)
• på restaurant (at a restaurant)
• på biblioteket (at the library)
Using i would imply being “inside” a more closed space (like i huset, in the house).
til indicates motion toward a destination: går til skogen = goes to the forest.
i skogen means “in the forest” (location, not movement). If you’re already in the woods, you say i skogen.
Here før means before and functions as a subordinating conjunction, linking two clauses:
“Hun betaler… før hun går…” = “She pays… before she goes…”
Norwegian subordinate clauses (with conjunctions like før, at, fordi) keep the normal Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order:
følgende element order → Conjunction (før) – Subject (hun) – Verb (går) – Object/adverbials…
betale is a regular verb. In present tense you add -er to the infinitive stem:
• infinitive: betale
• jeg betaler, du betaler, hun/han betaler, vi betaler…
Both can mean “go,” but:
• gå = to walk or go on foot
• dra = to travel, leave or go (often by vehicle, but also abstractly)
You could say drar til skogen, but it implies “sets off for the forest” (maybe by car or just “leaves for”).
Norwegian requires an explicit subject in each finite clause. You can’t drop hun in the subordinate clause, so you repeat it:
“She pays… before she goes…” → “Hun betaler… før hun går…”