Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Barna holder på å leke i stuen mens vi lager middag. - The children are in the process of playing in the living room while we make dinner.

Holder på å is a progressive construction that literally means “hold on to” + infinitive, but idiomatically it means “be in the process of” or “be (busy) doing something right now.” So Barna holder på å leke translates as “The children are playing” (with an emphasis on the action being in progress).

Why say holder på å leke instead of just leker?

In Norwegian, the simple present leker can describe both habitual actions and ongoing actions. If you want to stress that something is happening at this very moment, you use holder på å + infinitive.
• Barna leker = The children play / The children are playing (general or ongoing).
• Barna holder på å leke = The children are in the midst of playing right now.

How do you conjugate holde på å for different subjects or tenses?

The verb holde is regular in this construction. You keep på and å fixed; only holde changes form. Examples in the present and past tenses:
• Present: jeg holder på å, du holder på å, han/hun holder på å, vi holder på å, dere holder på å, de holder på å.
• Past: jeg holdt på å, du holdt på å, etc.
For future you can use skal holde på å or kommer til å holde på å, though simple future with skal is more common: Barna skal holde på å leke = The children will be playing.

Why is the subject barna and not barn or barnene?

Barn is the indefinite singular and indefinite plural form (“a child” or “children” in general).
Barna is the definite plural (“the children”). You use barna here because you’re talking about specific children that both speaker and listener know about.

Why do we say i stuen with stuen in the definite form?

Stue means “living room.” When you talk about being “in the living room,” Norwegian uses the definite form stuen plus the preposition i (“in”):
• i stuen = in the living room.
You wouldn’t say i en stue here, because you’re referring to a particular room in the house (“the living room”), not some unspecified living room.

What role does mens play in this sentence, and how does it affect word order?

Mens means “while” (indicating two actions happening simultaneously). It’s a conjunction that introduces a clause, but unlike some subordinating conjunctions, mens keeps the verb in second position in its clause:
• mens vi lager middag (“while we make dinner”) – vi (subject) comes before lager (verb).
In the main clause you still follow normal word order.

Why is it vi lager middag and not vi lager en middag or vi lager middagen?

In Norwegian, names of meals often drop the article when talking about the routine action of preparing or eating them:
• lage middag = make dinner
• spise frokost = eat breakfast
If you said en middag, you’d emphasize “a dinner” as one specific meal. Middagen (“the dinner”) would refer to “the dinner” already mentioned or very specific.

Could you rewrite the sentence without holder på å? If so, what changes?

Yes. You can simply use the present tense of the main verb:
Barna leker i stuen mens vi lager middag.
This is perfectly correct. It just lacks the special emphasis on the action being “in progress right now.” Norwegian simple present often serves both meanings.

Can you start with the mens clause first, and does that change anything about commas or word order?

Yes. If you front the mens clause, you need a comma and you invert the main clause:
Mens vi lager middag, holder barna på å leke i stuen.
Notice the comma after middag and that holder (verb) comes before barna (subject) in the main clause, because the subordinate clause occupies the first position.