Learn Hardcore Norwegian: På bussen viser jeg busskortet mitt til sjåføren. - On the bus I show my bus pass to the driver.

In Norwegian you normally use på with public transport (buses, trains, planes) – so you say på bussen, på toget, på flyet. Use i for enclosed spaces like i en bil (“in a car”) or i rommet (“in the room”), but for buses it’s almost always på.

Why does the verb viser come before the subject jeg in this sentence?

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb must be in the second position. Since på bussen is the first “slot,” viser must be second, pushing the subject jeg into third position. If you start with the subject you’d say: Jeg viser busskortet mitt til sjåføren.

Why is the possessive pronoun mitt placed after busskortet? Couldn’t I say mitt busskort?

When a noun is definite (here busskortet = “the bus card”), the possessive pronoun comes after the noun: busskortet mitt (“my bus card”). If the noun were indefinite you would say mitt busskort. Note also that busskort is a neuter noun, so its indefinite possessor is mitt rather than min.

What do the endings -et in busskortet and -en in sjåføren mean?

Those are the definite article suffixes in Norwegian. Neuter nouns take -et (busskort → busskortet = “the bus card”), while masculine/feminine nouns take -en (sjåfør → sjåføren = “the driver”).

What role does til play in til sjåføren? Could I use another preposition?

Til here marks the recipient (equivalent to English “to”). It shows that you’re showing something to someone. You cannot replace it with for or hos in this context without changing the meaning: for sjåføren would mean “on behalf of the driver,” not “to the driver.”

In English I’d say “I’m showing my bus card,” but in Norwegian there’s no “er viser.” Why?

Norwegian does not distinguish a continuous tense. The simple present (viser) covers both habitual and ongoing actions, so you just use viser for “show,” “am showing,” or “show(s).”

Can I move på bussen to the end of the sentence? How does that affect the word order?

Yes. If you keep the subject first, you can say:
Jeg viser busskortet mitt til sjåføren på bussen.
Here the subject jeg is first, viser stays second, and på bussen moves to the end. The V2 rule still applies.

Could I drop jeg entirely or omit the possessive mitt and just say viser busskortet til sjåføren?

No. In Norwegian you generally need an explicit subject in declarative sentences, so you cannot drop jeg. Omitting mitt would make busskortet indefinite or assumed as someone else’s card; it’s better to keep mitt if you want to specify your card.