Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Jeg vil reise rundt i verden før jeg kjøper et feriehus. - I want to travel around the world before I buy a holiday house.

In Norwegian there is no separate future tense. Instead you often use modal verbs like vil (to want/will) or skal (to be going to/shall) together with an infinitive. Here vil expresses that the speaker wants or intends to travel before buying a holiday home. Using skal would sound more like a firm plan or obligation (“I’m going to travel…”), while vil emphasizes desire.

Why is reise in the infinitive, not reiser?

When you use a modal verb such as vil, skal, kan, må etc., it is always followed by the infinitive form of the main verb. That’s why you say vil reise (“will travel”) and never vil reiser.

Why does the subordinate clause før jeg kjøper et feriehus use the present tense for a future action?

In Norwegian, time clauses introduced by words like før (before), når (when), or etter at (after) often use the present tense to refer to future events. So kjøper here is grammatically present tense but logically refers to a future purchase.

Why is there no comma before før?

Norwegian punctuation rules are more relaxed about commas before short conjunctions. Placing a comma before før is optional and in everyday writing most Norwegians omit it unless they need to clarify a complex sentence.

Can you explain the word order in før jeg kjøper et feriehus?

In subordinate clauses introduced by a conjunction (here før), the pattern is: conjunction – subject – verb – rest of the clause. So you get før (conjunction) + jeg (subject) + kjøper (verb) + et feriehus (object).

Why is reise rundt i verden used to say “around the world,” and can we say reise verden rundt or reise rundt i hele verden instead?

All three are correct:

reise rundt i verden literally “travel around in the world,” common and neutral.
reise verden rundt is more compact (“travel world around”) and also very common.
reise rundt i hele verden (“around in the entire world”) adds hele (entire) for extra emphasis.

Why is the indefinite article et used with feriehus, and how do I know its gender?

feriehus is a neuter noun in Norwegian, so you use the neuter indefinite article et. Unfortunately, noun gender must often be memorized. A tip: many compound words ending in -hus are neuter, but there are exceptions, so check a dictionary when in doubt.

What’s the difference between feriehus and hytte?

A feriehus is generally a holiday home or vacation house—often modern and possibly located anywhere. A hytte is usually a more rustic cabin or cottage, frequently in the mountains or by a lake, and associated with outdoor activities. In everyday speech there can be overlap, but hytte implies a simpler, cozier cabin.