Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Bestemor og bestefar har ett barnebarn som de ser hver helg. - Grandma and Grandpa have one grandchild whom they see every weekend.

In Norwegian, family words like bestemor (grandmother) and bestefar (grandfather) are normally written with a lowercase b when used as common nouns:

Jeg har en bestemor. – I have a grandmother.

But when they are used like names, especially in a family context, they are often capitalized:

Jeg skal besøke Bestemor. – I’m going to visit Grandma.
Bestemor og Bestefar – Grandma and Grandpa (as specific people, almost like proper names)

In the sentence Bestemor og bestefar har ett barnebarn som de ser hver helg, the capitalization suggests we are talking about these particular grandparents, probably from the child’s point of view: Grandma and Grandpa.

You could also see it written with lowercase (bestemor og bestefar) in more neutral or general contexts; the capitalization is a stylistic choice to show they are specific, familiar people.

Why is it ett barnebarn and not et barnebarn?

Norwegian distinguishes between:

et – the indefinite article for neuter nouns (a/an)
ett – the numeral one (with emphasis on one single)

In practice:

et barnebarn – a grandchild (neutral)
ett barnebarn – one grandchild (stressing the number: “only one”)

Writers sometimes use et for both article and number, but the standard recommendation is:

et hus, et barn, et barnebarn when you just mean a.
ett hus, ett barn, ett barnebarn, to barnebarn when you are clearly counting or emphasizing the number.

So in:

Bestemor og bestefar har ett barnebarn …

the use of ett tells you that they have exactly one grandchild, not two or three. If you wrote et barnebarn, it would sound a bit more neutral, with less focus on “only one”.

Why isn’t it en barnebarn or ei barnebarn?

Norwegian has three grammatical genders:

masculine – en: en gutt (a boy)
feminine – ei: ei jente (a girl) – in Bokmål you can also say en jente
neuter – et: et barn (a child)

The word barnebarn (grandchild) is neuter. Therefore its article is et (or ett when you want to stress the numeral one):

ett barnebarn / et barnebarn – one/a grandchild

So:

en barnebarn – incorrect
ei barnebarn – incorrect
et/ett barnebarn – correct

Many nouns that end in -barn (like barn, barnebarn, oldbarn) are neuter.

What are the plural and definite forms of barnebarn? It looks the same as singular.

Barnebarn is a neuter noun where the indefinite singular and plural look the same. Here’s the full pattern:

Singular, indefinite:
(et/ett) barnebarn – a grandchild / one grandchild
Singular, definite:
barnebarnet – the grandchild
Plural, indefinite:
(to) barnebarn – (two) grandchildren
Plural, definite:
barnebarna – the grandchildren

So:

Bestemor og bestefar har ett barnebarn.
– Grandma and Grandpa have one grandchild.
Bestemor og bestefar har to barnebarn.
– Grandma and Grandpa have two grandchildren.
Bestemor og bestefar ser barnebarna hver helg.
– Grandma and Grandpa see the grandchildren every weekend.

You know whether barnebarn is singular or plural from the context and from other words in the sentence (numbers, verbs, etc.).

What exactly does som do in som de ser hver helg?

Som here is a relative pronoun, like that / who / which in English. It introduces a relative clause that describes barnebarn:

ett barnebarn som de ser hver helg
– one grandchild that they see every weekend

Breakdown:

barnebarn – grandchild
som – that / whom / which
de ser hver helg – they see every weekend

So the relative clause som de ser hver helg gives extra information about which grandchild we are talking about: the one they see every weekend.

Important points about som:

It does not change form for gender or number; you always use som (no som, somen, soma, etc.).
It can refer to people or things: mannen som…, huset som…, barnebarnet som…

Why is it som de ser and not som ser de?

Norwegian has different word order rules for main clauses and subordinate clauses:

In main clauses, the verb usually comes in second position (V2 rule):
De ser barnebarnet hver helg. – They see the grandchild every weekend.
In subordinate clauses (introduced by words like som, at, fordi, hvis), the normal order is:
subject – verb – (objects/adverbs)

In som de ser hver helg:

som = relative pronoun starting the subordinate clause
de = subject
ser = verb

So the correct order is:

som de ser hver helg (relative clause: subject before verb)

If you said som ser de hver helg, you would be:

putting the verb before the subject, which is not the normal order for subordinate clauses in standard Norwegian. It sounds wrong to native speakers in this context.

Can I leave out som and just say …har ett barnebarn de ser hver helg?

Yes, in Bokmål it is possible to omit som when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause. In this sentence:

barnebarn is what they see → it is the object
so som is functioning as an object relative pronoun

Therefore:

Bestemor og bestefar har ett barnebarn som de ser hver helg. – fully explicit
Bestemor og bestefar har ett barnebarn de ser hver helg. – also acceptable, especially in informal speech and writing

Some notes:

In formal or careful writing, many style guides prefer to keep som, because it is slightly clearer.
When som is the subject in the relative clause, you cannot drop it:
- Mannen som bor der… – The man who lives there…
  You cannot say Mannen bor der… as a relative clause.

Here, both versions are grammatically fine; the version with som is more explicit.

Why is it de and not dem in som de ser hver helg?

In standard written Bokmål, there is a clear difference:

de – subject form: they
dem – object form: them

In som de ser hver helg:

de is the subject of the verb ser (who is seeing?)
the object (what they see) is barnebarn from the main clause

So you need the subject pronoun:

…barnebarn som de ser hver helg. – …a grandchild that they see every weekend.

Compare:

De ser dem hver helg. – They see them every weekend.
- de (subject: who sees?)
- dem (object: whom do they see?)

In spoken Norwegian, many people use dem in both roles (they say something that sounds like dæm for both), but in standard writing you should keep de for subjects and dem for objects.

Does ser here mean “visit / spend time with” or literally “see”?

The basic meaning of å se is to see (with your eyes). But in contexts with a time expression like hver helg, it often has a broader, more social meaning, very close to English:

Vi ser dem ofte. – We see them often. (We meet them / spend time with them.)

So in this sentence:

som de ser hver helg
is understood as
that they see (meet/spend time with) every weekend.

If you want to be more explicit, you could also say:

…som de besøker hver helg. – that they visit every weekend.
…som de treffer hver helg. – that they meet every weekend.
…som de er sammen med hver helg. – that they are together with every weekend.

But ser is perfectly natural and common here.

Why is it hver helg and not hver helgen or hver helga?

After hver (each / every), the noun is used in the indefinite singular form, without any definite ending:

hver dag – every day (not hver dagen)
hver uke – every week (not hver uken/uka)
hver måned – every month
hver helg – every weekend

So:

hver helg – correct
hver helgen – incorrect
hver helga – incorrect in standard Bokmål (though helga itself is a valid feminine definite form in some styles)

Reason: hver + noun always works like every + singular noun in English: every day, not every the day.

If you want to strengthen it, you can say:

hver eneste helg – every single weekend.

Can hver helg go somewhere else in the sentence?

Yes. Time expressions like hver helg are fairly flexible in Norwegian word order. All of these are grammatically correct, with slightly different emphasis:

Original (neutral):
Bestemor og bestefar har ett barnebarn som de ser hver helg.
– Grandma and Grandpa have one grandchild that they see every weekend.
Time expression earlier in the relative clause (more marked/emphatic):
…som de hver helg ser.
This is grammatically OK, but sounds somewhat more written/formal or poetic. Everyday speech prefers the original order.
At the very beginning (emphasizing the time):
Hver helg ser bestemor og bestefar barnebarnet sitt.
– Every weekend, Grandma and Grandpa see their grandchild.

General guideline: in subordinate clauses like som de ser hver helg, the most neutral order is:

subject – verb – (object) – time
→ de ser (ham) hver helg

You can move hver helg for emphasis, but the original sentence is the most natural everyday word order.

Why not say har barnebarnet instead of har ett barnebarn?

Har + indefinite noun usually expresses possession/existence:

De har et hus. – They have a house.
De har to barn. – They have two children.
De har ett barnebarn. – They have one grandchild.

If you say har barnebarnet, you are using the definite form:

De har barnebarnet hjemme hos seg nå. – They have the grandchild at their place now.
(Meaning: the grandchild is with them, in their possession/care at the moment.)

So:

har ett barnebarn – they have one grandchild (in general, in their family)
har barnebarnet – they have the grandchild (right now / the specific grandchild, with them)

In this sentence the point is how many grandchildren they have, so the indefinite form ett barnebarn is the correct choice.

Could I also say Bestemor og bestefar ser barnebarnet sitt hver helg? What’s the difference?

Yes, that is a perfectly good – and very natural – sentence:

Bestemor og bestefar ser barnebarnet sitt hver helg.
– Grandma and Grandpa see their grandchild every weekend.

Two main differences:

Structure and focus
- Har ett barnebarn som de ser hver helg
  – First tells you they have one grandchild, then adds that this is the one they see every weekend. The number (they only have one) is in focus.
- Ser barnebarnet sitt hver helg
  – Focuses on the habit of seeing their grandchild every weekend; it doesn’t explicitly say how many grandchildren they have (they might have more).
Possessive pronoun
- barnebarnet sitt uses sitt, the reflexive possessive for neuter nouns. It refers back to the subject of the clause (Bestemor og bestefar) and means their own grandchild.
- If you wrote barnebarnet deres, it could (in some contexts) be understood as someone else’s grandchild (the grandparents of another person).
  sitt removes that ambiguity and clearly means their own.

So your alternative sentence is correct; it just puts the communicative emphasis on the regular action (“they see their grandchild every weekend”) instead of on the fact that they have only one grandchild.