Breakdown of Jeg ser en film og drikker kaffe etterpå.
Questions & Answers about Jeg ser en film og drikker kaffe etterpå.
ser is the present tense of the verb å se (“to see”). It covers both the simple present (“I see”) and the continuous/progressive sense (“I’m seeing” or “I’m watching”). Norwegian doesn’t have a separate progressive form, so you just use the simple present:
• jeg ser
• du ser
• han/hun ser
• vi ser, etc.
film is a countable, common-gender noun, so you need en to say “a film.”
kaffe, on the other hand, is a mass (uncountable) noun in Norwegian, so you just say drikker kaffe (“drink coffee”) when you mean coffee in general. If you wanted “a cup of coffee,” you’d specify en kopp kaffe.
Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb must be the second element. In your sentence each clause obeys V2:
1) Jeg (1) – ser (2) – en film…
2) og (1) – drikker (2) – kaffe etterpå
If you front etterpå, you still keep the verb in second position:
“Etterpå (1) – drikker (2) – jeg kaffe.”
You could then continue “og ser en film,” but this ordering implies you had been doing something before “etterpå,” so it may change the nuance.
When two clauses share the same subject, Norwegian lets you drop the repeated pronoun in the second clause.
• Full: “Jeg ser en film, og jeg drikker kaffe etterpå.”
• Concise: “Jeg ser en film og drikker kaffe etterpå.”
Both are correct; omitting jeg makes it more compact and natural in spoken/written Norwegian.
Generally, you don’t use a comma before og when it links verbs or phrases with the same subject. So “Jeg ser en film og drikker kaffe etterpå” is correct without a comma. You can add one for clarity or style—especially if you repeat the subject:
“Jeg ser en film, og jeg drikker kaffe etterpå.”
You can replace etterpå with og så (literally “and then”) to show sequence:
“Jeg ser en film og så drikker jeg kaffe.”
Remember V2 if you start a new clause after og så.
You cannot use også here, because også means “also/too,” not “then.”