Vi hadde en lang samtale om helse og kosthold i går.

We had a long conversation about health and diet yesterday.

Breakdown of Vi hadde en lang samtale om helse og kosthold i går.

• ha: to have
• en: a
• vi: we
• om: about
• og: and
• lang: long
• i går: yesterday
• helsen: the health
• samtalen: the conversation
• kostholdet: the diet

Questions & Answers about Vi hadde en lang samtale om helse og kosthold i går.

Why do we use hadde here instead of har hatt or another form?

In Norwegian the simple past (preterite) of å ha (“to have”) is hadde. You could form the present perfect as har hatt, but when you mention a specific past time like i går, the simple past is more common and direct:
  Vi hadde … i går.

Why is it en lang samtale and not et langt samtale or en lange samtale?

1. Samtale is a common‐gender noun (sometimes called masculine/feminine) and takes the indefinite article en.
2. Adjectives in indefinite singular for common gender remain in their “bare” form, so you say lang (not lange).
3. If it were neuter, you’d see et langt (e.g., et langt brev).

What does the preposition om do in samtale om helse og kosthold?

Here om means “about.” It’s the standard preposition to introduce a topic of discussion:
  en samtale om noe = a conversation about something
You could also use angående or omkring, but om is far more common in everyday speech.

What do helse and kosthold mean?

• helse = “health” (an abstract noun referring to physical/mental well-being)
• kosthold = “diet” or “nutrition.” It’s a compound of kost (food/diet) + hold (keeping), literally “food‐keeping.”

Why is i går written as two words, and where can I place it?

• i går (“yesterday”) is always two words in modern Norwegian.
• You can position it at the end:
   Vi hadde en lang samtale om helse og kosthold i går.
  or at the beginning:
   I går hadde vi en lang samtale om helse og kosthold.
  Just remember the V2‐rule: the finite verb (hadde) must stay in second position, so if i går comes first, the subject follows the verb.

How would I say “the long conversation” instead of “a long conversation”?

Use the definite form:
  den lange samtalen
So the full sentence becomes:
  Vi hadde den lange samtalen om helse og kosthold i går.

Can you break down the word kosthold into its parts?

Yes. kosthold = kost (“food” or “diet” in older usage) + hold (“keeping” or “holding”). Together they form the noun for one’s overall diet or nutritional habits.