Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Noen deltakere var uenige, men de respekterte hverandres mening i diskusjonen. - Some participants disagreed, but they respected each other’s opinion in the discussion.

Noen deltakere = some participants (not a clearly defined group; just “some people who are participants”).
Noen av deltakerne = some of the participants (a subset of a specific, known group of participants that both speaker and listener have in mind).

So noen deltakere feels more general, while noen av deltakerne is more clearly “some of those particular participants we’ve been talking about.”

Why is it deltakere and what are the singular and plural forms of this noun?

Deltakere is the indefinite plural form of deltaker (participant).

The usual Bokmål forms are:

Singular indefinite: en deltaker
Singular definite: deltakeren
Plural indefinite: deltakere
Plural definite: deltakerne

So noen deltakere literally = some participants.

You might also see the spelling deltager/deltagere; that’s just an alternative spelling in Bokmål, with the same meaning.

Why is it uenige and not uenig?

In Norwegian, adjectives agree with the noun they describe in number (and sometimes gender), even when they come after the verb.

With a singular subject:
- Deltakeren var uenig. – The participant was disagreeing / did not agree.
With a plural subject:
- Deltakerne var uenige. – The participants disagreed.

In the sentence, the subject is noen deltakere (plural), so the adjective must be plural: uenige.

Could I say var ikke enige instead of var uenige? Is there a difference?

Yes, you can say both:

var uenige = were in disagreement / disagreed
var ikke enige = were not in agreement / were not agreed

They are very close in meaning, and in most everyday contexts they are interchangeable.

Small nuance:

uenige can sound slightly more direct: they disagreed.
ikke enige can sound a bit softer: they just weren’t in agreement.

But most of the time, learners can treat them as meaning the same thing.

What exactly is hverandres? How is it different from hverandre and deres?

Hverandre = each other / one another (used as an object or after prepositions):
- De respekterte hverandre. – They respected each other.
Hverandres = each other’s (the possessive/genitive form of hverandre):
- De respekterte hverandres mening. – They respected each other’s opinion.
Deres = their / theirs (could be a neutral “their” or “someone else’s” depending on context):
- De respekterte deres mening. – They respected their opinion.
  (Not clear if “their” refers to the same group or to another group.)

In this sentence, hverandres is used because the participants respect the opinions within the same group (each other’s).

Why is it hverandres mening (singular) and not hverandres meninger (plural)?

Both are possible, but they sound a bit different:

hverandres mening (singular) – very natural and common.
- Think of it as “each other’s point of view” (generic, uncounted).
hverandres meninger (plural) – also correct, but emphasizes the fact that there are many separate opinions.

So:

De respekterte hverandres mening.
– They respected each other’s opinion in general.
De respekterte hverandres meninger, selv om de var veldig forskjellige.
– They respected each other’s opinions, even though they were very different.

In your sentence, the singular mening is the most natural choice.

How is the past tense respekterte formed from å respektere?

Respektere is a regular verb in Bokmål.

Basic forms:

Infinitive: å respektere – to respect
Present: respekterer – respect / respects
Past (preterite): respekterte – respected
Past participle: respektert – respected (as an adjective/participle)

For many verbs ending in -ere, the past tense is formed with -te:

organisere → organiserte
diskutere → diskuterte
respektere → respekterte

So de respekterte = they respected.

Where would ikke go if I wanted to say they did not respect each other’s opinion?

You place ikke after the conjugated verb:

Noen deltakere var uenige, men de respekterte ikke hverandres mening i diskusjonen.
– Some participants disagreed, but they did not respect each other’s opinion in the discussion.

Basic pattern in main clauses:

Subject + conjugated verb
- ikke
  - (rest of the sentence)

So:

De respekterte ikke hverandres mening.
De var ikke enige.

Why is it i diskusjonen and not i en diskusjon?

i diskusjonen (definite) = in the discussion → refers to a specific, known discussion (for example, the meeting or debate that has just been mentioned or is obvious from context).
i en diskusjon (indefinite) = in a discussion → some discussion, not specified which one.

In your sentence, it sounds like we are talking about one particular discussion where these participants were present, so the definite form diskusjonen is natural.

Can I say under diskusjonen instead of i diskusjonen? Is there a difference?

Yes, both are possible, with a slight nuance:

i diskusjonen – literally in the discussion; focuses a bit more on what happens within the interaction itself.
under diskusjonen – literally during the discussion; emphasizes the time period when something happened.

So:

… de respekterte hverandres mening i diskusjonen.
– They respected each other’s opinion in that discussion (as part of how the discussion went).
… de respekterte hverandres mening under diskusjonen.
– They respected each other’s opinion during the discussion (throughout its duration).

In most everyday contexts, they overlap a lot.

Can de refer back to noen deltakere like this, even though noen deltakere is indefinite?

Yes, this is perfectly normal in Norwegian.

First you introduce a group: Noen deltakere – some participants.
Then you refer back to them with de – they.

Example:

Noen barn lekte i hagen. De ropte og lo.
– Some children were playing in the garden. They shouted and laughed.

So Noen deltakere … men de … is natural and clear to Norwegian speakers.