Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Besøkende sier at utstillingen er den mest spennende de har sett noen gang. - Visitors say the exhibition is the most exciting they have ever seen.

Besøkende is the present participle of the verb å besøke (to visit) turned into a noun meaning “visitors.” In Norwegian, such nouns are lowercase unless they start a sentence (as here). It’s plural indefinite, which you can see because there’s no article and because it’s referred to by the plural pronoun de later on.

Why is sier at used instead of just sier?

Sier means “say.” To introduce a full reported clause (“that…”) in Norwegian, you normally add the conjunction at (“that”). So sier at utstillingen er… = “say that the exhibition is….” In spoken or very informal Norwegian you can sometimes drop at, but in writing it’s standard to keep it.

Why does the sentence use den before mest spennende?

Superlative adjectives in Norwegian take a definite article. Here den is the definite pronoun/article meaning “the one” and agrees with utstillingen (a common-gender singular noun). Thus den mest spennende = “the most exciting.” (If the noun were neuter you’d use det, and for plurals de.)

Why is it mest spennende and not spennendeste?

Adjectives ending in -ende (especially present participles like spennende) form comparatives and superlatives with mer/mest rather than by adding -ere/-este. So you say mer spennende (“more exciting”) and mest spennende (“most exciting”).

What does noen gang mean in this context, and why is it there?

Noen gang literally means “some time,” but in a perfect-tense clause it functions like English ever. In de har sett noen gang, it tells us “the most exciting they have ever seen.” It typically comes after the verb phrase in perfect constructions.

What does the pronoun de refer to in de har sett?

De is the third-person plural pronoun “they.” It refers back to besøkende (“visitors”) and serves as the subject of the clause de har sett noen gang.

Why is har sett in the present perfect tense rather than simple past?

Norwegian uses the present perfect (har + past participle) to talk about experiences or events that have relevance up to now. Here, de har sett = “they have seen,” emphasizing what those visitors have experienced so far.

Why is there no som before de har sett noen gang (i.e. no “that”/“which”)?

After a superlative, the relative pronoun som (“that”/“which”) is often omitted in Norwegian. Both den mest spennende som de har sett and the shorter den mest spennende de har sett are grammatical, but dropping som is more concise and common in speech and informal writing.

In the clause introduced by at, why does the verb er follow utstillingen instead of moving to the end (as in some other languages)?

Norwegian subordinate clauses introduced by at still obey the verb-second (V2) rule: the conjunction (at) counts as position one, and the verb remains in position two. That’s why you get at utstillingen er rather than pushing er to the end.