Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Tegningen hun lager til bestemor, er fargerik og morsom. - The drawing she makes for Grandma is colorful and fun.

The ending -en is the definite article for most masculine and feminine nouns. So you don’t say den tegningen for a simple subject; you just use tegningen.

You would add a separate den only in special cases (e.g. with an adjective: den fargerike tegningen = the colourful drawing).

Why is there no word like that/which between tegningen and hun? Shouldn’t it be tegningen som hun lager?

The part hun lager til bestemor is a relative clause describing tegningen (like the drawing *that she is making for grandma*).

In Norwegian, the relative pronoun som (that/which/who) can often be omitted when it would be the object of the verb in the relative clause:

Full form: Tegningen som hun lager til bestemor …
Reduced form: Tegningen hun lager til bestemor …

Both are correct. The reduced form without som is very common in speech and informal writing. Using som can sound a bit more explicit or careful, but there’s no big meaning difference here.

Is the comma before er (Tegningen hun lager til bestemor, er …) required?

According to modern Norwegian comma rules, you normally do not put a comma between the subject and the verb, even if the subject is long or contains a relative clause. So many style guides would prefer:

Tegningen hun lager til bestemor er fargerik og morsom.

The version with a comma is something you still see (often as a “pause comma”), but it’s not recommended in standard written Bokmål. As a learner, it’s safest to leave the comma out in this kind of sentence.

Why is lager translated as is making? Does Norwegian have a separate continuous tense like English?

Norwegian has only one present tense form, and it covers both English:

simple present (makes, draws) and
present continuous (is making, is drawing).

So:

hun lager can mean either she makes or she is making, depending on context.

If you really want to stress the ongoing nature of the action, you can use expressions like:

hun holder på å lage en tegning
hun er i ferd med å lage en tegning

But in most everyday situations, simple presens (lager) is used for both meanings.

Why is it til bestemor and not for bestemor?

Both til and for can sometimes translate English for, but they are used differently.

Here, til marks a recipient or destination:

en tegning til bestemor = a drawing to/for grandma (grandma is the one who will receive it)

In this meaning, til is the normal choice. for bestemor would more often suggest:

doing something for her benefit or in her place:
- Jeg jobber for bestemor. = I work for grandma (e.g. as her employee / on her behalf).

So with presents, letters, drawings, etc., til (recipient) is the usual preposition:

en gave til bestemor – a gift for grandma
et brev til bestemor – a letter to grandma
en tegning til bestemor – a drawing for grandma

Why is there no her or my before bestemor? Why not til bestemoren hennes?

With close family words (like mamma, pappa, bestemor, bestefar, bror, søster), Norwegian often drops the possessive (my/her/his) when it’s clear from context whose relative it is.

So instead of:

a drawing for *her grandmother*

Norwegian simply says:

en tegning til bestemor

It’s usually understood as her own grandma when the context is clear (here: hun). You can say:

til bestemoren hennes – to her grandmother (more explicit)
til bestemoren sin – to her own grandmother (referring back to the subject)

…but in everyday speech til bestemor is completely natural and often preferred.

Why is it hun and not henne in Tegningen hun lager til bestemor?

Norwegian distinguishes between subject and object forms of the pronoun:

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

In the relative clause hun lager til bestemor, hun is the subject of lager:

(Hun) lager en tegning. – (She) is making a drawing.

So the subject form hun is required. You would use henne only when it’s an object:

Bestemor får en tegning av henne. – Grandma gets a drawing from her.

Why are the adjectives fargerik and morsom in their basic form? Shouldn’t they have an -e ending because tegningen is definite?

Norwegian adjectives behave differently depending on where they appear:

Attributive (placed directly in front of the noun):
- den fargerike tegningen – the colourful drawing
  Here, with a definite noun, the adjective gets -e: fargerike, morsomme.
Predicative (after verbs like er, blir, heter):
- Tegningen er fargerik og morsom.

In predicative position, when the subject is singular and common gender, the adjective usually stays in the basic form (no -e):

Boka er interessant. – The book is interesting.
Filmen var morsom. – The film was funny.

So fargerik and morsom are correct here, even though tegningen is definite. The definiteness does not force an -e in predicative position.

How do fargerik and morsom agree with tegningen in gender and number?

The noun tegning is feminine in meaning, but in Bokmål it’s commonly treated as masculine:

indefinite: en tegning
definite: tegningen

For adjectives:

masculine/feminine singular (indefinite or predicative): basic form
- fargerik, morsom
neuter singular: fargerikt, morsomt
plural / definite with a noun (attributive): fargerike, morsomme

In Tegningen … er fargerik og morsom, we have:

subject: singular common gender (en/ei tegning)
adjectives in predicative position: basic singular form: fargerik, morsom

So the agreement is correct.

Why can the verb er come so late? Isn’t Norwegian supposed to be a “verb‑second” language?

Yes, Norwegian main clauses normally follow a V2 (verb-second) pattern: the finite verb is the second element in the clause.

Here, the entire subject phrase is:

Tegningen hun lager til bestemor

That whole phrase counts as one element. The verb er is the second element:

Subject: Tegningen hun lager til bestemor
Verb: er
The rest: fargerik og morsom

So the V2 rule is still satisfied; the verb doesn’t have to come after the first word, only after the first clause element (which can be long).

Could we say Hun lager en tegning til bestemor som er fargerik og morsom instead? Does it mean the same?

Grammatically this is possible, but it is ambiguous and often sounds like it has a different meaning.

Hun lager en tegning til bestemor som er fargerik og morsom.

The relative clause som er fargerik og morsom most naturally attaches to bestemor (the closest noun), so it tends to be understood as:

She is making a drawing for grandma, *who is colourful and fun.*

If you want to clearly say that the drawing (not grandma) is colourful and fun, it’s better to keep the structure from the original sentence:

Tegningen hun lager til bestemor er fargerik og morsom.

This way, it’s unambiguous that fargerik og morsom describe tegningen.

Is there any difference in meaning or style between Tegningen hun lager til bestemor er fargerik og morsom and Hun lager en fargerik og morsom tegning til bestemor?

Both can describe essentially the same situation, but they have slightly different focus:

Tegningen hun lager til bestemor er fargerik og morsom.
- Focus on that particular drawing as a known or specific thing.
- It’s like pointing at it and commenting on it.
Hun lager en fargerik og morsom tegning til bestemor.
- Focus more on the activity: she is (in general) making a colourful and fun drawing for grandma.
- The drawing is presented as new information, not something already established.

Grammatically both are fine; the choice is about emphasis and context.