Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Hosten hennes er så tørr at resepsjonisten tilbyr vann. - Her cough is so dry that the receptionist offers water.

In Bokmål, the neutral, most common pattern is noun + possessive: hosten hennes, boka mi, morens hans. Preposed possessives (e.g., hennes hoste) are also correct but sound more emphatic/contrastive or formal and make the noun indefinite. So both Hosten hennes er … and Hennes hoste er … are grammatical; the first simply reads more natural in everyday Norwegian and feels less contrastive.

Could we use sin instead of hennes here?

No. Sin/si/sitt/sine is reflexive and refers back to the subject of the clause. In Hosten hennes er …, the subject is hosten, not the person. Hosten sin would mean “the cough’s own cough,” which is wrong. To use sin correctly, the possessor must be the clause’s subject, e.g., Hun synes at hosten sin er veldig tørr.

Why is hosten in the definite form?

With a postposed possessive in Bokmål, the noun is typically definite: huset hans, boka mi, hosten hennes. If you move the possessive in front (hennes hoste), the noun becomes indefinite. So definiteness here is tied to the possessive’s position.

Why is resepsjonisten definite?

Norwegian often uses the definite form for contextually unique roles: the receptionist at a particular desk, the driver of a bus, the teacher in a specific classroom. Resepsjonisten naturally refers to the one on duty there. En resepsjonist would sound like “some receptionist,” which is less natural in this context.

What’s the word order after at in … at resepsjonisten tilbyr vann?

After the subordinating conjunction at (“that”), Norwegian uses subject–verb order (no V2). So it’s at resepsjonisten tilbyr, not at tilbyr resepsjonisten. Main clauses are typically V2; subordinate clauses are not.

Should there be a comma before at in this sentence?

No. In the correlative result construction så … at, you normally do not insert a comma: … er så tørr at …. The så and at belong together semantically and are not split by a comma.

What does the pattern så + adjective + at express? Are there alternatives?

It expresses degree leading to a consequence: “so [adjective] that …”. Alternatives:

såpass … at (roughly “to such an extent that”)
A causal paraphrase with fordi (because), but that shifts meaning from result to cause.
A simpler coordination with så (“so/therefore”) in a second main clause (less tight than the så … at linkage).

Why is it tørr and not tørre?

Predicative adjectives (after er/blir) don’t mark definiteness. They agree only in gender/number:

Masc/fem singular: tørr (as here, with hoste/hosten)
Neuter singular: tørt (e.g., Vannet er tørt doesn’t make sense semantically, but grammatically shows the form)
Plural: tørre (e.g., Hostene er tørre) Attributively before a definite noun you’d use tørre: den tørre hosten.

Could I write tørrhoste instead of tørr hoste?

Yes. The compound tørrhoste is common and means “dry cough.” You’d typically restructure the sentence if you use it, e.g., Hun har så ille tørrhoste at resepsjonisten tilbyr vann. The original with Hosten hennes er så tørr … is also perfectly natural.

Why is there no article before vann?

Vann is an uncountable mass noun, so no article is needed: tilbyr vann. You can add noe to mean “some”: tilbyr noe vann. Note that et vann normally means “a lake.”

Can I specify the recipient: tilbyr henne vann?

Yes. Å tilby takes a double object: tilby (noen) (noe). All of these are fine, with slight nuances:

… tilbyr vann. (offers water, recipient understood)
… tilbyr henne vann. (offers her water)
… tilbyr vann til henne. (grammatical but less idiomatic than the double-object version)

What’s the difference between å tilby and å by (på)?

å tilby = to offer/propose to give (neutral, common in service or formal contexts): tilbyr vann, tilbyr hjelp.
å by (på) = to “serve/offer up,” or “to bid” depending on context. With på, it often implies hosting/serving: Hun byr på kake. You could say byr på vann, but tilbyr vann is the straightforward service formula here.

How do I avoid confusing hosten, høsten, and hesten?

hosten = the cough (from hoste, “to cough”). Vowel like English short “o.”
høsten = the autumn/fall (with ø, pronounced like a rounded “uh/er”).
hesten = the horse (with e, like “eh”). Pay attention to the vowel letters o/ø/e; they change both meaning and pronunciation.

How is resepsjonisten pronounced, and what’s the sj sound?

Approximate syllables: re-sep-sjo-NIS-ten. The sj in -sjon- is the Norwegian “sh” sound. You’ll see it in many words of French/Latin origin: stasjon, informasjon, versjon.

Does hennes change with gender or number?

No. Hennes is invariable. It’s used for “her/hers” regardless of the noun’s gender or number. The reflexive set changes by gender/number (sin/si/sitt/sine), but that’s a different system and only used when the possessor is the clause’s subject.