Breakdown of Skikken med å drikke kaffe om morgenen er vanlig her.
være
to be
drikke
to drink
å
to
med
with
morgenen
the morning
kaffen
the coffee
her
here
om
in
vanlig
common
skikken
the custom
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Questions & Answers about Skikken med å drikke kaffe om morgenen er vanlig her.
What does skikken mean in this sentence?
skikken is the definite form of skikk (a feminine noun meaning “custom” or “practice”). Here it functions as the subject: Skikken = “the custom.”
Why do we use med before å drikke kaffe om morgenen?
The pattern skikken med å + infinitiv literally means “the custom with doing [something]” → “the custom of doing [something].” The preposition med links skikken (“the custom”) to the action expressed by the infinitive phrase å drikke kaffe om morgenen.
Why is the verb in the infinitive form å drikke instead of using a noun like drikking?
Norwegian often uses the infinitive with å to talk about an action as a concept (similar to the English gerund). Although drikking (“drinking”) exists, it sounds awkward here. med å drikke kaffe is the natural way to say “of drinking coffee.”
What does om morgenen mean, and could we use hver morgen or på morgenen instead?
- om morgenen = “in the morning” (habitually, on mornings in general).
- hver morgen = “every morning” (emphasizes that it happens each morning).
- på morgenen can appear in some dialects or casual speech, but om morgenen is the standard written form.
Why isn’t there a det before er vanlig her? In English we say “It is common here.”
Because the sentence already has a clear subject: Skikken med å drikke kaffe om morgenen. When there’s a specific subject, Norwegian drops the dummy pronoun det. We say Subject + er vanlig her directly.
Can we rephrase the sentence using Det er vanlig at the start?
Yes. A common alternative is:
Det er vanlig her å drikke kaffe om morgenen.
Here det is a placeholder subject, and the infinitive clause follows at the end.
Why does her come at the end of the sentence?
In Norwegian word order, place adverbs like her (“here”) usually follow the verb (and object, if any). The typical order is Subject-Verb-(Object)-Place. Moving her earlier (e.g. Her er det vanlig…) is possible but more marked or emphatic.