Learn Hardcore Norwegian: En bonde leverer fersk laks og egg til byens marked. - A farmer delivers fresh salmon and eggs to the city market.

Norwegian nouns have two grammatical genders: common (which covers old masculine and feminine) and neuter.
• bonde (farmer) is a common-gender noun, so its indefinite article is en.
• You’d use ei for some traditionally feminine nouns (e.g. ei dame), but most feminine nouns now also take en.
• et is reserved for neuter nouns (e.g. et hus).

What’s the infinitive form of leverer, and how do you form its present tense?

The verb’s infinitive is levere (to deliver). It follows the regular -e conjugation pattern:
• Infinitive: levere
• Present tense: drop the final -e and add -er, giving leverer (delivers/is delivering).
• Past tense: leverte.
This pattern applies to most Norwegian verbs ending in -e.

Why is the adjective fersk not written as ferskt or ferske here?

Norwegian adjectives agree with the noun’s gender, number, and definiteness:
• Common-gender singular indefinite (like laks) uses the “strong” form with no ending → fersk laks.
• Neuter singular indefinite would take -t → ferskt egg (one egg).
• Plural indefinite and all definite forms take -e → ferske egg (fresh eggs) or den ferske laksen (the fresh salmon).

Why don’t laks and egg have plural endings in this sentence?

Both laks and egg are examples of invariant nouns in Norwegian:
• Singular indefinite: en laks, et egg
• Plural indefinite: laks, egg (no change)
• Definite plural: laksene, eggene (you add -ene).

Does fersk modify both laks and egg in fersk laks og egg? If not, how would I say “fresh salmon and fresh eggs”?

By default, an adjective only modifies the noun it directly precedes, so fersk here describes laks only. To modify both, you repeat the adjective (and inflect correctly for each noun):
• fersk laks og ferske egg
This makes it clear that both salmon and eggs are fresh.

What does the preposition til mean here, and could I use på instead?

• til = “to” or “towards” – it expresses motion or delivery to a place.
En bonde leverer fersk laks og egg til byens marked. (A farmer delivers … to the city’s market.)
• på = “on” or “at” – it indicates where something takes place or rests.
Hvis du sier på byens marked, it means something is happening at the market (not that you’re sending it there).

How is the genitive formed in byens, and how else could I express “the market of the city”?

In Norwegian you form possession by adding -s to the definite form of the noun:
• by → definite byen → genitive byens (the city’s).
So byens marked = “the city’s market.”
Alternatively you can use the construction markedet i byen (“the market in the city”) with i + place.

What is the typical word order in this sentence, and how does it compare to English?

The sentence follows the standard Subject – Verb – Object – Adverbial (S V O Adv) word order, same as English:
• Subject: En bonde
• Verb: leverer
• Direct object: fersk laks og egg
• Adverbial/prepositional phrase: til byens marked

How would I say “the fresh eggs” or “fresh salmon and fresh eggs” in Norwegian?

• “the fresh eggs”: de friske eggene
(definite plural: adjective fersk → friske, noun egg → eggene)
• “fresh salmon and fresh eggs”: fersk laks og ferske egg