Treneren hjelper barna med øvelsen.

The coach helps the children with the exercise.

Breakdown of Treneren hjelper barna med øvelsen.

• med: with
• barnet: the child
• hjelpe: to help
• øvelsen: the exercise
• treneren: the coach

Questions & Answers about Treneren hjelper barna med øvelsen.

Why do treneren, barna, and øvelsen all end in -en or -a instead of using a separate word for “the”?

In Norwegian the definite article usually attaches to the end of the noun as a suffix, not as a separate word.
• en trener (a coach) → treneren (the coach)
• et barn (a child) → indefinite plural barn, definite plural barna (the children)
• en øvelse (an exercise) → øvelsen (the exercise)

Why is barna “the children” and not barnene?

Most neuter nouns form the definite plural with -ene, but barn is irregular:
• Indefinite singular: et barn
• Indefinite plural: barn
• Definite singular: barnet
• Definite plural: barna

How do I know which is the direct object and which is a prepositional object in this sentence?

In Treneren hjelper barna med øvelsen:
• barna is the direct object (the ones being helped). “Å hjelpe noen” takes a direct object without a preposition.
• med øvelsen is a prepositional object introduced by med (help with something).

Why is the preposition med used here? Could I say something else?

When you help someone with a noun, you use hjelpe noen med noe.
Alternative structures:
• If you want to emphasize the action of doing the exercise, you can use an infinitive:
– Treneren hjelper barna å gjøre øvelsen. (The coach helps the children to do the exercise.)
• You would not use på or til in this context—med is the correct collocation for “help with.”

Can hjelpe also be followed directly by another verb, like in English “help do something”?

Yes, but with Norwegian word order and an infinitive marker:
• Hjelpe noen med noe (help someone with something → noun)
• Hjelpe noen å gjøre noe (help someone to do something → verb)
You do not combine both in one clause (i.e., you can’t say hjelpe noen med å gjøre noe unless you mean “help with doing something” as a noun phrase).

Why is the verb hjelper the same whether it’s “I help,” “you help,” or “he/she helps”?

Norwegian verbs do not change form according to person. The present tense of å hjelpe is always hjelper for jeg, du, han, vi, dere, de.

What determines word order in this sentence?

Norwegian follows the V2‐rule (verb‐second): the finite verb must be in second position. Here:

1. Treneren (subject)
2. hjelper (verb)
3. barna (direct object)
4. med øvelsen (prepositional phrase)