Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Ungdommen bruker lommelykten til å finne veien hjem over den smale broen. - The youth use the flashlight to find the way home over the narrow bridge.

Ungdommen is a collective noun in Norwegian, literally “the youth.” It’s grammatically singular and refers to young people as one group. If you want to talk about individual young people, you’d say ungdommer (youths) or ungdommene (the youths, plural definite).

Could I use ungdommene instead of ungdommen here?

Yes. Ungdommene is the plural definite form (“the youths”) and emphasizes the individuals. Ungdommen frames them as a single collective entity. Both are correct; choose ungdommen for a general group sense, ungdommene when you think of them as distinct persons.

Why is lommelykten in the definite form with -en at the end?

Norwegian marks the definite article as a suffix on the noun.
• lommelykt = “a flashlight” (indefinite)
• lommelykten = “the flashlight” (definite)
Here it’s specific: “they use the flashlight.”

Why does the sentence use til å finne instead of just å finne?

The verb å bruke (to use) takes til when it’s followed by another verb. The pattern is:
“å bruke noe til å gjøre noe” = “to use something to do something.”
So you need til before å finne: “bruker lommelykten til å finne …”

What does veien hjem mean, and why are both words needed?

• veien is the noun “the way” (definite of vei).
• hjem is an adverb meaning “home” (directional).
Together finne veien hjem = “find the way home.” veien is the direct object (what they find), and hjem shows direction. Just finne hjem would sound unusual in Norwegian.

Why is there no preposition before hjem (like til hjem)?

In Norwegian, hjem is a directional adverb and does not require til. You simply say dra hjem (“go home”) or finne veien hjem (“find the way home”), never til hjem.

Why is over den smale broen used to mean “across the narrow bridge”?

over expresses movement across an object.
• gå over broen = “go across the bridge.”
By contrast, på broen would only mean “on the bridge” (location, not motion). So over den smale broen correctly conveys “across the narrow bridge.”

Why is it den smale broen, and why does smal become smale?

When a definite noun is modified by an adjective in Norwegian, you use a “double definite” construction:

A separate article: den (masculine/feminine) or det (neuter)
The adjective takes an -e ending: smale
The noun takes its definite suffix: -en → broen
So den smale broen = “the narrow bridge.” Without den and the -e on the adjective, it would be ungrammatical.