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Han gleder seg til reisen.

Han gleder seg til reisen.
He is looking forward to the trip.
FromLesson 13inHardcore Norwegian
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Breakdown of Han gleder seg til reisen.

han
he
glede seg til
to look forward to
reisen
the trip
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Questions & Answers about Han gleder seg til reisen.

What does gleder seg til mean in English?
Gleder seg til is a fixed expression meaning “is looking forward to”. Literally it’s “gladdens oneself to,” but you translate it as “is looking forward to.”
Why is there a seg in this sentence?
Seg is the reflexive pronoun required by the verb glede in Norwegian when you talk about being excited or looking forward to something. English doesn’t need it, but Norwegian uses glede seg (“to delight oneself”).
Why is there no å before reisen?
Å is only used before an infinitive verb. Here reisen is a noun (the trip), so you use til reisen (to the trip) without å. If you used a verb, you’d say til å reise (“to travel”).
Why is reisen in the definite form instead of en reise?
Using the definite form reisen (the trip) shows you’re talking about a specific trip you already have in mind. If you said en reise, it would be “a trip” in general, which changes the nuance.
How would you make the sentence negative?

Place ikke after the reflexive pronoun:
Han gleder seg ikke til reisen.
If you were using a verb-form object you’d do the same: Han gleder seg ikke til å reise.

Can I use another word for “looking forward,” like ser fram til?
Yes. Han ser fram til reisen means exactly the same as Han gleder seg til reisen. Both are common.
Could I talk about going on the trip rather than the trip itself?

Absolutely. Change the noun reisen to the verb reise in infinitive form, and you need å:
Han gleder seg til å reise.
“That is, He’s looking forward to traveling.”

Where does the prepositional phrase til reisen fit in the word order?

In Norwegian main clauses, you follow the subject + finite verb rule (V2 word order). So you get:
1) Subject: Han
2) Verb: gleder
3) Reflexive pronoun: seg
4) Prepositional object: til reisen
Altogether: Han gleder seg til reisen.