Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Den eldste datteren min er snart voksen, men bestemor ser henne fortsatt som et barn. - My eldest daughter is soon an adult, but Grandma still sees her as a child.

Without den, eldste datteren min sounds ungrammatical or very dialectal in Bokmål. The den is functioning like a definite article together with the definite ending -en on datteren.

Can I also say min eldste datter instead, and what is the difference?

Yes, min eldste datter is also correct, and quite common. The structure changes:

min + adjective + indefinite noun
→ min eldste datter

Differences:

den eldste datteren min
- More neutral, very typical in spoken Norwegian.
- Focus is slightly more on which daughter (the oldest one).
min eldste datter
- Often feels a bit more emphatic on min (that it is my oldest daughter).
- Slightly more formal or written‑like, but still very normal.

So both are correct; the choice is mostly about style and subtle emphasis, not meaning.

Why is datteren in the definite form when we already have min?

Norwegian often marks definiteness twice in noun phrases with adjectives or postposed possessives. This is different from English.

Patterns:

Without adjective, possessive after noun:
datteren min (my daughter) – definite ending -en
- possessive.
With adjective, possessive after noun:
den eldste datteren min – den
- adjective + definite ending + possessive.

So min does not replace the definite ending on the noun here. You still keep datteren, not datter. This is a core feature of Norwegian noun phrases called double definiteness.

Why is it eldste and not eldre or gammel?

Norwegian has:

Positive: gammel (old)
Comparative: eldre (older)
Superlative: eldst / eldste (oldest)

Use:

eldre = between two or more, but not “the oldest one”:
Hun er eldre enn søsteren sin. – She is older than her sister.
eldst / eldste = the oldest in a group:
- Predicative, no noun: Hun er eldst. – She is (the) oldest.
- Attributive with a noun: min eldste datter, den eldste datteren min.

We use the superlative here because we mean the oldest daughter (among several children), not just “older”.

Why is it er snart voksen and not er snart en voksen?

In er snart voksen, voksen is used as an adjective meaning grown up, adult:

er voksen ≈ is grown up / is an adult (adjectival)

Adjectives used as predicative complements (after er, blir, etc.) do not take an article in Norwegian:

Hun er syk. – She is ill.
Han er trøtt. – He is tired.
Datteren min er snart voksen. – My daughter is soon grown up / almost an adult.

If you say er snart en voksen, then voksen becomes a noun (an adult). That is possible, but it sounds heavier and more concrete, like:

Hun er snart en voksen (person). – She will soon be an adult (person).

In everyday language, the adjectival er snart voksen is much more natural here.

Can we use blir instead of er in er snart voksen? What is the difference?

Yes, you can say:

Den eldste datteren min blir snart voksen.

Difference:

er snart voksen
- Focus on her current state: she is now very close to being an adult.
- Implication: she already behaves or seems almost adult.
blir snart voksen
- Focus on the process of becoming an adult.
- Slightly more about the upcoming change or transition.

Both are correct; the nuance is similar to English “is soon grown up” vs “will soon become an adult.”

Why doesn’t bestemor have min in front of it, like English my grandmother?

In Norwegian, family terms like mamma, pappa, bestemor, bestefar, onkel, etc. are very often used without a possessive when the context already makes it clear whose relative it is.

Examples:

Jeg skal til bestemor. – I’m going to Grandma’s (house).
Bestemor baker kake. – Grandma is baking a cake.

In your sentence, it is obvious we are talking about the speaker’s grandmother, so bestemor alone is natural and idiomatic. Adding min is not required the way my is in English.

Is bestemoren min also correct, and when would you use it instead of bestemor?

Yes, bestemoren min is correct. It literally means the grandmother my, i.e. my grandmother.

Nuance:

bestemor
- Neutral and very common in everyday speech when it is obvious whose grandmother you mean.
- Feels a bit warmer or more intimate, like English Grandma.
bestemoren min
- Used when you want to be more explicit about whose grandmother it is, or when there might be ambiguity.
- Can sound a bit more formal or distancing than just bestemor, depending on context.

In your sentence, both men bestemor ser henne fortsatt som et barn and men bestemoren min ser henne fortsatt som et barn are grammatically fine. The version without min feels more colloquial and typical.

Why is there a comma before men, and does men change the word order?

Men means but and starts a new main clause:

Den eldste datteren min er snart voksen,
men bestemor ser henne fortsatt som et barn.

In Norwegian, you normally put a comma before coordinating conjunctions like og (and), men (but), for (because in the sense of “for”), and eller (or) when they join two full clauses.

About word order:

Men does not cause inversion the way a fronted adverb does.
The clause after men has normal main‑clause order:
bestemor (subject) + ser (verb) + henne (object).

So men bestemor ser henne … is the expected word order.

Why do we say ser henne and not ser hun?

Norwegian, like English, distinguishes between subject and object forms of personal pronouns.

Subject: hun – she
Object: henne – her

In the second clause:

Subject = bestemor
Verb = ser (sees)
Object = henne (her, referring to the daughter)

So you need the object form henne:

Bestemor ser henne … – Grandma sees her …

If you said ser hun, hun would be interpreted as a new subject (“… sees she”), which is ungrammatical here.

What exactly does fortsatt mean here, and where can it go in the sentence?

Fortsatt means still, in the sense of continuing to be the case:

Bestemor ser henne fortsatt som et barn.
→ Grandma still sees her as a child.

Typical placements in this sentence:

Bestemor ser henne fortsatt som et barn.
Bestemor ser fortsatt henne som et barn. (also possible, but less common with pronouns)

Most natural is to place fortsatt in the mid‑field, after the verb and usually after a short pronoun object:

Subject – Verb – (short object pronoun) – fortsatt – rest

You would not normally put fortsatt at the very end here (… som et barn fortsatt) – that sounds strange.

Can we replace fortsatt with stadig or enda? Would that change the meaning?

You can, but there are nuances:

fortsatt
- Neutral still, simply “it continues to be that way”.
- Very common in this kind of sentence.
stadig
- Can mean still, but often with a sense of “again and again / constantly”.
- Bestemor ser henne stadig som et barn can sound a bit more like “keeps on seeing her as a child”, with a hint of persistence or even slight annoyance.
enda
- Often means yet or even.
- … ser henne enda som et barn is not idiomatic here.
- You might hear fortsatt or fremdeles instead of enda for “still”.

Most natural choices here are fortsatt or fremdeles. Stadig is possible but slightly changes the tone; enda is not a good fit.

Why is it som et barn with et, even though we are talking about a daughter (female)?

In Norwegian, grammatical gender and natural gender are separate things.

barn (child) is a neuter noun (grammatical gender).
- Indefinite: et barn – a child
- Definite: barnet – the child

We must use et because we follow the grammatical gender of the noun, not the biological sex of the person. Even if the actual person is a girl, the word barn stays neuter:

som et barn – like a child (no information about male/female, just “child”).

This is the same principle as always using en with mann (en mann), even if you talk about a very young man; the article follows the word’s gender.

Why is barn in the indefinite form (et barn) and not definite (barnet) in this comparison?

After som in a comparison like this, you normally use an indefinite noun when you are talking about a type or category, not a specific individual:

som et barn – like a child (in general, like any child)
som en voksen – like an adult

If you said som barnet, that would mean like the child, referring to one specific child mentioned in the context:

Hun oppfører seg som barnet vi møtte i går.
– She behaves like the child we met yesterday.

In your sentence, the idea is general (grandma still sees her as a child, in general), so som et barn (indefinite) is the natural and correct form.