Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Vinduet på bilen dugger når det er kaldt ute. - The car window fogs up when it is cold outside.

dugger is the 3rd person singular present tense of the verb dugge, which means “to fog up,” “to steam up,” or “to become covered with condensation.” In this sentence, it describes the car window becoming misty on its own.

Why doesn’t dugger have an object or use a reflexive pronoun like dugger seg?

The verb dugge is intransitive—it describes a change of state rather than an action performed on something else. The window simply “fogs up” by itself, so you don’t need a direct object or seg.

Why is vinduet in the definite form instead of et vindu?

Because we’re talking about the window on a specific car. In Norwegian, you add -et to neuter nouns to make them definite: vindu (“a window”) → vinduet (“the window”).

Why is på bilen used here? Couldn’t we say i bilen?

på means “on” and indicates the window is on the outside surface of the car. Saying i bilen (“in the car”) would refer to something happening inside the car’s interior, not on its exterior.

Why is there a det in det er kaldt ute? What does it refer to?

This det is a dummy subject—much like English “it” in “it’s raining.” It doesn’t refer to anything concrete; it’s required for general statements about weather or conditions (e.g. det snør, det regner).

Why is kald inflected as kaldt here?

After the dummy subject det, adjectives take the neuter form, which usually ends in -t: kald → kaldt. Hence det er kaldt literally “it is cold.”

What does ute mean, and why is it placed after kaldt? Could we use utendørs instead?

ute means “outside” and acts as an adverb. In Norwegian, predicate adjectives come before adverbials, so you say kaldt ute (“cold outside”). You could use utendørs in more formal or literary contexts, but ute is far more common in everyday speech.

Why is the verb er placed immediately after det in når det er kaldt ute?

In Norwegian subordinate clauses introduced by conjunctions like når, you maintain Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) order. So after når (when), you have det (subject) + er (verb) + the rest. This differs from languages (e.g. German) that move the verb to the end in subordinate clauses.

Why is når used here instead of hvis or da?

når expresses a general or recurring condition (“whenever it’s cold outside”). hvis would make it hypothetical (“if it happens to be cold”), and da refers to a specific past occasion (“when that particular event happened”).

Could we omit ute in this sentence? What would that change?

You could say Vinduet på bilen dugger når det er kaldt, and it would still make sense if the context implies “outside.” However, leaving out ute makes the location of the cold less explicit.