Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Barna vil hverken sove tidlig eller slutte å høre på radio. - The children want neither to sleep early nor to stop listening to the radio.

hverken ... eller ... means “neither ... nor ...”. You place hverken before the first action or item and eller before the second, linking them to express that both are excluded. In our sentence it excludes both sove tidlig and slutte å høre på radio.

Why is there no å before sove, but there is an å before høre?

After modal verbs like vil, you use the bare infinitive (no å): vil sove. After most other verbs of transition or change, like slutte, you need å + infinitive: slutte å høre.

How does the positioning of the adverb tidlig work here?

In a main clause, Norwegian typically follows Subject–Verb–Adverb order. So you put tidlig (the adverb) directly after the verb sove: sove tidlig = “sleep early.”

Why is it høre på radio instead of just høre radio?

In Norwegian you combine høre with the preposition på to mean “listen to.” So høre på radio literally is “hear on radio,” i.e. “listen to the radio.”

Why isn’t there an article before radio?

When speaking about listening to radio in general, you omit the article: høre på radio. If you wanted “the radio set,” you’d use the definite form radioen.

What’s the difference between using vil and skal here?

vil expresses desire or willingness (“want to”), while skal often indicates a planned future action or obligation (“shall”/“will” in a future sense). The children vil neither of these things because they don’t want to.

Why is barna used instead of just barn?

barna is the definite plural form of barn, so it means “the children.” Without any article or ending, barn can be singular or plural indefinite (“a child” or “children” in general).

Could you use stoppe å høre på radio instead of slutte å høre på radio?

Yes. stoppe å høre på radio is also grammatically correct and understandable. slutte is often more idiomatic for “to quit / stop doing something,” but stoppe works too.