Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Det er for tidlig til å sove, men for sent til å starte filmen. - It is too early to sleep, but too late to start the movie.

Det is an expletive (dummy subject) used for general statements about time, weather, distance, etc. It doesn’t refer to anything specific—like English "it" in "It’s too early."

How do for tidlig and for sent work?

for + adjective/adverb means "too + adj/adv." Here tidlig (early) and sent (late) are used adverbially and don’t take endings: for tidlig = too early, for sent = too late.

Why is it til å sove / til å starte?

Norwegian typically forms "too … to …" as for + adj + til å + infinitive: for tidlig til å sove, for sent til å starte. Til links the adjective to the infinitive action.

Can I drop til and say for tidlig å sove?

You may hear it in speech and see it in informal writing, but the standard, safest form is with til: for tidlig til å ... / for sent til å .... Use til in careful writing.

Is å the same as og?

No. å is the infinitive marker "to" before verbs (å sove, å starte). og means "and." Don’t mix them up.

Why is it filmen (definite) and not film?

The meaning is "start the film." In Norwegian the definite article is a suffix: en film (a film), filmen (the film). If you meant "a film," say å starte en film.

Could I use begynne instead of starte?

Use them differently:

starte filmen = start the playback/device.
begynne å se filmen = begin to watch the film.
begynne på filmen = begin on the film (start watching it). Begynne filmen is usually odd unless you mean "begin making the film."

Is the comma before men necessary?

Yes. Men ("but") is a coordinating conjunction, and Norwegian places a comma before it when linking clauses or similar elements.

Why is Det er omitted in the second half?

Avoiding repetition in parallel clauses is normal. The full version would be Det er for tidlig til å sove, men det er for sent til å starte filmen.

Would legge seg be more idiomatic than sove?

Often, yes. If you mean "go to bed," say legge seg: Det er for tidlig til å legge seg. Sove is about actually sleeping.

Is sent ever written seint?

Yes. Both sent and seint are accepted in Bokmål; seint is also common in Nynorsk and some dialects. They mean the same.

Any quick pronunciation tips?

tidlig: the d is silent; roughly TEE-lee [ˈtiːli].
til å: flows together, like "tilo."
å: rounded vowel, like English "o" in "more" (shorter).
sent: long e: [seːnt]. Regional variation applies.

Can I say for tidlig for å sove?

No. for å means "in order to." You can use for to mark who it’s too early for: for tidlig for meg å sove ("too early for me to sleep"). Without an experiencer, stick with til å.

Where does ikke go if I want to negate one part?

Place ikke after er in the clause you’re negating:

Det er ikke for tidlig til å sove, men for sent til å starte filmen.
Det er for tidlig til å sove, men ikke for sent til å starte filmen.

Are there other natural ways to phrase the sentence?

Examples:

Det er for tidlig til å legge seg, men for sent til å sette på filmen.
More colloquial: Det er for tidlig å legge seg, men for sent til å starte filmen.
With variant spelling: Det er for tidlig til å sove, men for seint til å starte filmen.

Why don’t tidlig and sent change form here?

They function adverbially/predicatively (after er and before an infinitive phrase), so no gender/number endings are used. You’d see inflection only in attributive adjective uses, e.g., en tidlig kveld ("an early evening").