Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Hun rister koppen før hun drikker te. - She shakes the cup before she drinks tea.

rister is the present tense of å riste, which means to shake. In this sentence, hun rister koppen literally means “she shakes the cup.”

Why does koppen have the ending -en, and how would you say “a cup” in Norwegian?

The ending -en marks the definite form: koppen = the cup. The indefinite form is en kopp = a cup.

Why is there no preposition between rister and koppen (for example, “rister på koppen”)?

Å riste is a transitive verb, so you can shake something directly: riste koppen = shake the cup. You might occasionally hear riste på koppen in certain dialects, but it’s not required.

Why is te without an article, and when would you use teen instead?

When talking about drinking tea in general, te is an uncountable noun and takes no article: drikker te = (she) drinks tea. If you refer to a specific tea, you use the definite form teen = the tea.

What role does før play here, and why doesn’t the verb move to the end as it does in German subordinate clauses?

Før is a subordinating conjunction meaning before. In Norwegian subordinate clauses, you keep the normal subject–verb–object (SVO) order, unlike German where the verb often goes to the end. So før hun drikker te remains SVO.

Can you start the sentence with the før clause, and does that affect the word order?

Yes. You can say:
Før hun drikker te, rister hun koppen.
The subordinate clause Før hun drikker te keeps SVO, and the main clause still follows the V2 rule: rister comes right after the first element.

Could you omit the subject pronoun hun in the second clause, like we sometimes do in English?

No. Norwegian normally requires an explicit subject in each clause. You must say hun drikker te, not just drikker te.

If you want to replace koppen with “it,” how would you say that in Norwegian?

Use the object pronoun den for a masculine or feminine noun like kopp:
Hun rister den før hun drikker te. – “She shakes it before she drinks tea.”