Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Etter samtalen med henne føles situasjonen mindre håpløs og jeg blir mindre ulykkelig. - After the conversation with her the situation feels less hopeless and I become less unhappy.

The sentence starts with an adverbial:
Etter samtalen med henne (After the conversation with her) → this is position 1.
Because of V2, the next thing must be the verb:
føles (feels) → position 2.
The subject comes after the verb:
situasjonen (the situation).

So we get:

Etter samtalen med henne føles situasjonen mindre håpløs ...

If you start with the subject instead, you get “normal” subject–verb order:

Situasjonen føles mindre håpløs etter samtalen med henne.

Both versions are correct; the fronted version just emphasizes the time frame (“After the conversation with her...”), while the other emphasizes the situation.

What exactly does «føles» mean here, and how is it different from «er» or «føler»?

Føles is the -s form of the verb å føle (to feel). In this sentence it works like English “feels” (as in “the situation feels less hopeless”), not like “I feel”.

situasjonen føles mindre håpløs
= the situation feels less hopeless
(literally: the situation feels itself less hopeless)

Compare:

situasjonen er håpløs – the situation is hopeless
→ A more objective statement about how things are.
jeg føler meg håpløs – I feel hopeless
→ The subject is a person, and we use føler (meg).

So:

føles is used when something seems/feels (passively) a certain way.
er is a simple statement of being.
føler (meg) is about someone actively feeling something.

Why is it «etter samtalen» (definite) and not «etter en samtale» (indefinite)?

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:

etter samtalen med henne
= after the conversation with her
→ Refers to a specific conversation that both speaker and listener know about (context: the talk you just had, that difficult conversation, etc.).
etter en samtale med henne
= after a conversation with her
→ More general or new information: some conversation, not yet identified as “the known one”.

Using the definite form (samtalen) signals that this is a known, specific event in the story. That’s usually what you want in a sentence like this.

What is the difference between «henne» and «hun» here?

They are different cases of the same pronoun:

hun = subject form (like English she)
henne = object form (like English her)

In the phrase med henne (with her), the pronoun is the object of the preposition med, so you must use henne, not hun.

Examples:

Hun snakket med meg. – She talked with me.
Jeg snakket med henne. – I talked with her.

Why is it «håpløs» and not «håpløst» or «håpløse» with «situasjonen»?

In Norwegian, adjectives used after verbs like er, blir, føles (so-called predicative adjectives) agree only in number (singular/plural), not in definiteness.

Singular: base form
situasjonen er håpløs – the situation is hopeless
Plural: -e
situasjonene er håpløse – the situations are hopeless

You do not add a special “definite” ending on adjectives in this position. Even though situasjonen is definite (“the situation”), the adjective stays in the singular base form:

situasjonen føles mindre håpløs (not håpløse, not *håpløse*n, etc.)

The form håpløst would be neuter singular (for a neuter noun, e.g. et problem er håpløst – “a problem is hopeless”), which doesn’t fit situasjonen (which is masculine/feminine).

Why is it «mindre håpløs» and not something like «håpløsere»?

Norwegian has two main ways of making comparatives:

By adding -ere:
vakker → vakrere (beautiful → more beautiful)
snill → snillere (kind → kinder)
By using mer / mindre
- adjective:
  mer interessant (more interesting)
  mindre farlig (less dangerous)

For håpløs, håpløsere is theoretically possible, but it sounds clumsy and uncommon. Native speakers normally say:

mer håpløs – more hopeless
mindre håpløs – less hopeless

So mindre håpløs is the natural, idiomatic choice.

What is the nuance of «jeg blir mindre ulykkelig» compared to «jeg er mindre ulykkelig» or «jeg føler meg mindre ulykkelig»?

All three are possible, but they focus on slightly different things:

jeg blir mindre ulykkelig
→ I become less unhappy / I’m getting less unhappy
- Focus on change over time or as a result of something (here: the conversation).
- Very natural after “Etter samtalen ...”.
jeg er mindre ulykkelig
→ I am less unhappy
- Describes your state now, without emphasizing the change.
jeg føler meg mindre ulykkelig
→ I feel less unhappy
- Explicitly about your subjective feeling.
- Slightly more “psychological” or introspective.

In the original sentence, blir fits well because the conversation causes a change: you become less unhappy after talking to her.

Could this also be in the past, like «føltes» and «ble»? When should I use present vs past here?

Yes, you can put it in the past:

Etter samtalen med henne føltes situasjonen mindre håpløs, og jeg ble mindre ulykkelig.
= After the conversation with her, the situation felt less hopeless, and I became less unhappy.

Use:

Present tense (føles, blir) when you are talking about something that is true now, even if the conversation already happened:
→ After that talk with her, the situation (now) feels less hopeless...
Past tense (føltes, ble) when you are talking about a completed past situation, viewed from back then:
→ After that talk, the situation felt less hopeless (at that time), and I became less unhappy (then).

The original sentence uses present tense, suggesting we’re focusing on how things currently feel as a result of that conversation.

Why is there no comma before «og jeg blir mindre ulykkelig»?

In Norwegian, you don’t usually put a comma before og when it simply links two main clauses with the same subject structure, unless there’s a special reason (like a very long or complex clause).

Here we have:

Clause 1: Etter samtalen med henne føles situasjonen mindre håpløs
Clause 2: og jeg blir mindre ulykkelig

They are both fairly short and straightforward, so standard punctuation is:

Etter samtalen med henne føles situasjonen mindre håpløs og jeg blir mindre ulykkelig.

Adding a comma (... håpløs, og jeg blir ...) isn’t wrong in all contexts, but it’s normally not needed and often omitted.

Can the parts of the sentence be reordered, for example starting with «situasjonen»?

Yes, Norwegian word order is fairly flexible as long as you respect the V2 rule. Some natural alternatives are:

Situasjonen føles mindre håpløs etter samtalen med henne, og jeg blir mindre ulykkelig.
→ Starts with the situation, more neutral in many contexts.
Jeg blir mindre ulykkelig, og situasjonen føles mindre håpløs etter samtalen med henne.
→ Starts with I, putting more focus on your feelings.

The original:

Etter samtalen med henne føles situasjonen mindre håpløs og jeg blir mindre ulykkelig.

puts the time frame / cause (“after the conversation”) in focus first, then describes what changes.

Why is it «med henne» and not «til henne» or «hos henne»?

The preposition med means “with” and is used for doing something together with another person:

en samtale med henne – a conversation with her
å spise med henne – to eat with her

Other prepositions would change the meaning:

til henne – to her (direction / recipient)
- Jeg skriver til henne. – I write to her.
hos henne – at her place / with her (in her home / company)
- Jeg er hos henne. – I am at her place / with her.

Since the idea is that you had a conversation together, med henne is the correct and natural choice.