Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.

When we talk honestly together, the day feels less hopeless.

Breakdown of Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.

• vi: we
• snakke: to talk
• dagen: the day
• sammen: together
• når: when
• føles: to feel
• mindre håpløs: less hopeless
• ærlig: honestly

Questions & Answers about Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.

Why is it føles dagen and not dagen føles in this sentence?

Both dagen føles mindre håpløs and føles dagen mindre håpløs are correct Norwegian; the difference is word order after a fronted clause.

Norwegian has the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb must be in second position.

In your sentence, the entire first part

• Når vi snakker ærlig sammen

is a subordinate clause placed at the beginning. That whole clause counts as one element in the word order. Then the main clause follows:

• føles (finite verb – must be in 2nd position)
• dagen (subject)
• mindre håpløs (rest of the predicate)

So:

• Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.

If you put the main clause first, the subject can come first, and the verb is still in second position:

• Dagen (subject – 1st element)
  føles (finite verb – 2nd element)
  mindre håpløs når vi snakker ærlig sammen.

So:

• Dagen føles mindre håpløs når vi snakker ærlig sammen. ✔
• Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs. ✔

Both are correct; you just see different applications of the V2 rule.

Why is it Når vi snakker and not Når snakker vi?

Because Når vi snakker ærlig sammen is not a question, it’s a subordinate clause introduced by the subjunction når (when/whenever).

Norwegian distinguishes word order in:

• Main clauses (statements/questions)
• Subordinate clauses (introduced by words like når, fordi, at, hvis, som, etc.)

In a subordinate clause, the order is generally:

Subjunction + Subject + Verb + ...

So we get:

• Når vi snakker ærlig sammen
  When we speak honestly together

If you say:

• Når snakker vi ærlig sammen?

that is a direct question:

• When do we speak honestly together?

So:

• In your sentence: subordinate clause → “Når vi snakker …”
• In a question: main clause question → “Når snakker vi …?”

What is the difference between når, da, and hvis here? Could I replace når?

No, you can’t freely replace når with da or hvis; they have different uses.

• når = when / whenever
  Used for present/future and repeated or general situations.

  • Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.
    When(ever) we speak honestly together, the day feels less hopeless. (general/habitual)

• da = when (but only a specific event in the past)

  • Da vi snakket ærlig sammen, føltes dagen mindre håpløs.
    When we spoke honestly together, the day felt less hopeless. (one past occasion)

• hvis = if (hypothetical condition)

  • Hvis vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.
    If we speak honestly together, the day feels less hopeless. (conditional: this may or may not happen)

In your sentence we are talking about something that happens regularly or generally, not just once, and not hypothetically. That’s why når is the natural choice.

What is the nuance of snakker here? Could I use prater instead?

Both snakker and prater can mean talk or speak, but they differ slightly in tone.

• snakke is the neutral, standard verb:

  • Vi snakker norsk. – We speak Norwegian.
  • Vi snakker sammen. – We talk (to each other).

• prate is more informal / chatty:

  • Vi prater sammen. – We chat / talk (informally).

In your sentence:

• Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.

snakker fits very well: it covers both serious and ordinary conversation, and “speaking honestly” sounds slightly serious/intimate anyway.

You could say:

• Når vi prater ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.

This is grammatically fine but sounds a bit more casual: when we chat honestly together… The meaning is similar, but snakker is the safest, most neutral choice.

Why do we say snakker ærlig sammen? Could it be snakker sammen ærlig or just snakker ærlig?

All three exist, but they don’t feel equally natural:

1. snakker ærlig sammen (most natural here)

   • ærlig describes how we speak (honestly)
   • sammen adds the idea together / with each other
     This word order sounds very idiomatic.

2. snakker sammen ærlig
   Possible, but less natural and slightly marked. It tends to emphasize sammen (that we do it together) and then add ærlig almost as an afterthought.

3. snakker ærlig (without sammen)
   Grammatically fine, meaning just speak honestly (without explicitly saying together).

   • Når vi snakker ærlig, … is okay, but it loses the nuance of “with each other”.

Another very common alternative is:

• Når vi snakker ærlig med hverandre, …
  When we speak honestly with each other, …

Here med hverandre (with each other) replaces sammen, but the meaning is nearly the same.

Why is it ærlig and not ærlige or something like ærligt?

ærlig is the basic adjective and the adverb form here.

Some points:

• As an adjective:

  • en ærlig mann – an honest man (masc/fem, singular)
  • et ærlig svar – an honest answer (neuter, singular)
  • ærlige mennesker – honest people (plural / definite form)

• As an adverb (meaning honestly), Norwegian often uses the same form as the adjective, especially when the adjective ends in -lig, -ig, -som:

  • snakke ærlig – speak honestly
  • le ærlig – laugh honestly / genuinely

You usually do not add -t to make an adverb for adjectives ending in -lig / -ig:

• vanlig → vanlig (not vanligt)
• trivelig → trivelig (not triveligt)
• ærlig → ærlig (not ærligt)

So ærlig is the correct and natural form here.

What is the difference between føles and føler?

They are related but used differently:

• å føle = to feel (active verb)
  Talking about a person feeling something.

  • Jeg føler meg trist. – I feel sad.
  • Jeg føler håpløshet. – I feel hopelessness.

• å føles = to feel / to be felt (middle voice with -s)
  Used for how something seems/feels rather than what a person actively feels:

  • Det føles riktig. – It feels right.
  • Dagen føles mindre håpløs. – The day feels less hopeless.

So, in your sentence:

• føles dagen mindre håpløs
  literally: does the day feel less hopeless
  You are describing the state / quality of the day, not saying that the day itself is “feeling” something in a human sense.

If you used føler instead, it would be strange here:

• Dagen føler mindre håpløs – ungrammatical and nonsensical.

Why is it dagen and not en dag or just dag?

dagen is the definite singular form: the day.

Using the definite here is natural in two ways:

1. It can mean this particular day (today, or the day we are in):

   • When we speak honestly together, *the day we are living feels less hopeless.*

2. It can also have a kind of general / typical meaning (Norwegian often uses the definite like this):

   • Dagen blir bedre når sola skinner.
     The day (in general) gets better when the sun shines.

What about the other options?

• en dag = a day / one day

  • Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles en dag mindre håpløs.
    This sounds like “a single day” becomes less hopeless – odd and not what we want.

• dag by itself as a bare noun isn’t used here. You’d need either en dag (a day) or dagen (the day).

So dagen is the natural choice to express “the day (we’re going through) feels less hopeless.”

How does mindre håpløs work grammatically? Why mindre and not færre?

håpløs is an adjective: hopeless.

To make comparatives:

• mer håpløs = more hopeless
• mindre håpløs = less hopeless

In Norwegian, you use:

• mer / mest with adjectives (more/most)
• mindre / minst with adjectives or uncountable things (less/least)
• færre only with countable nouns (fewer)

So:

• mindre håpløs – less hopeless ✔ (adjective)
• færre håpløs – ❌ (wrong, because håpløs is not a countable noun)

Examples:

• mindre trist – less sad
• mindre stress – less stress (uncountable noun)
• færre dager – fewer days (countable noun)

So mindre håpløs is exactly the right form here.

Why is there a comma after Når vi snakker ærlig sammen?

This is a punctuation rule in Norwegian.

• Når vi snakker ærlig sammen is a subordinate clause (it starts with the subjunction når).
• føles dagen mindre håpløs is the main clause.

In Norwegian, when a subordinate clause comes first, you must put a comma between it and the following main clause:

• Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.

If the main clause comes first, the comma often disappears:

• Dagen føles mindre håpløs når vi snakker ærlig sammen. (no comma)

In English, the comma after an initial “When …” clause is optional and stylistic; in Norwegian it is required by the standard rules.

Can I also say Dagen føles mindre håpløs når vi snakker ærlig sammen? Does the meaning change?

Yes, you can absolutely say:

• Dagen føles mindre håpløs når vi snakker ærlig sammen.

It’s fully correct and very natural.

The meaning is essentially the same, but there is a small difference in focus / rhythm:

• Når vi snakker ærlig sammen, føles dagen mindre håpløs.
  Puts a bit more emphasis on the condition: When we speak honestly together…

• Dagen føles mindre håpløs når vi snakker ærlig sammen.
  Starts by focusing on the day and its feeling: The day feels less hopeless when…

Both are normal; the choice is mostly about what you want to highlight first.

How do you pronounce ærlig, snakker, føles, dagen, and håpløs?

Approximate pronunciations (using English-like hints):

• ærlig ≈ AIR-lee

  • æ like a in “bad”, but a bit more open
  • r often tapped or rolled
  • lig here like “lee”

• snakker ≈ SNACK-er

  • short a like in “cat”
  • final -er often pronounced like a very light “uh” or “er”, depending on dialect

• føles ≈ FUR-less (but shorter)

  • ø like the vowel in British “bird” or French “peur”
  • -les roughly like “less” but with a shorter, lighter ending

• dagen ≈ DAH-gen

  • a like in “father”
  • g is a hard g
  • final -en often reduced, almost like “uhn”

• håpløs ≈ HOPE-luhss (but with different vowels)

  • håp: å like “or” (British) or “aw” in “law”
  • løs: ø again like in “bird” / French “peur”; final s is pronounced

So the whole sentence might sound roughly like:

• NÅR vi SNACK-er AIR-lee SAH-men, FØH-less DAH-gen MIN-dre HÅWP-løss.
  (This is only an approximation; real Norwegian vowels are tighter and shorter.)