Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Bestemor sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik. - Grandma says that the drawing is very colorful.

In Norwegian you often leave out the possessive (min / mi / mitt / mine) with close family members when it’s clear from context whose relative it is.

So:

Bestemor sier at …
= My grandmother says that … (normally understood as “my” in context)

You can say it with a possessive:

Bestemoren min sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik.
Bestemora mi sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik. (more dialectal / informal)

Using the possessive just makes it explicit that it is your grandmother; using bare Bestemor feels a bit more like using a name (“Grandma says…”).

Why is Bestemor capitalized? Isn’t it just a common noun like grandmother?

As a common noun, bestemor is not normally capitalized:

En bestemor = a grandmother
Bestemoren = the grandmother

But when you use it as a form of address or almost like a name (the way you might say Grandma in English), it is usually capitalized:

Bestemor sier at …
≈ Grandma says that …

So in this sentence it functions more like a name/title and therefore gets a capital letter.

What’s the difference between Bestemor, Mormor, and Farmor?

Norwegian is more specific than English here:

Bestemor – grandmother (general word, could be either side)
Mormor – maternal grandmother (your mother’s mother)
Farmor – paternal grandmother (your father’s mother)

Similarly for grandfathers:

Bestefar – grandfather
Morfar – mother’s father
Farfar – father’s father

So if you say Bestemor, it can refer to either mormor or farmor, depending on context.

What does at do in sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik, and why can’t it be left out like English that?

In this sentence at is a conjunction meaning that (introducing reported speech or a content clause):

Bestemor sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik.
= Grandma says that the drawing is very colorful.

In English you can often drop that:

Grandma says (that) the drawing is very colorful.

In standard Norwegian, you normally must keep at here; you can’t just say:

✗ Bestemor sier tegningen er veldig fargerik. (unnatural/wrong in standard language)

So: after verbs like si (say), mene (mean), tro (believe), vite (know), you usually include at before the clause that follows.

Why is the word order at tegningen er veldig fargerik and not at er tegningen veldig fargerik?

Norwegian word order is different in main clauses and subordinate clauses:

In main clauses, the verb normally comes in second position (the “V2 rule”):
- Tegningen er veldig fargerik.
  (The drawing is very colorful.) – subject tegningen, verb er
In subordinate clauses introduced by at, the order is:
- [at] + subject + verb + …
- at tegningen er veldig fargerik
  (that the drawing is very colorful)

So:

✔ Bestemor sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik.
✗ Bestemor sier at er tegningen veldig fargerik. (wrong word order)

Putting the verb before the subject after at is incorrect in standard Norwegian.

Why is it tegningen and not just tegning?

Norwegian often marks “the” by adding an ending to the noun instead of using a separate word:

en tegning – a drawing (indefinite, common gender)
tegningen – the drawing (definite, -en ending)

In the sentence, they are talking about a specific drawing that both speaker and listener presumably know about, so the definite form is natural:

Bestemor sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik.
= Grandma says that the drawing is very colorful.

If you said en tegning er veldig fargerik, it would sound like you’re talking about “a drawing” in a generic way, not a particular one.

What gender is tegning, and how does that affect its forms?

Tegning is a common gender noun (traditionally “masculine”):

Indefinite singular: en tegning – a drawing
Definite singular: tegningen – the drawing
Indefinite plural: tegninger – drawings
Definite plural: tegningene – the drawings

Because it’s common gender, the definite singular ending is -en (not -et):

tegningen, not ✗tegninget

This also matters for adjective agreement: with a common-gender singular noun like tegning, you use the base form of the adjective in predicative position:

Tegningen er fargerik. – The drawing is colorful.

Why is the adjective fargerik and not fargerikt or fargerike?

Adjectives in Norwegian change form depending on gender, number, and sometimes definiteness.

Base forms with fargerik:

en fargerik tegning – a colorful drawing (common gender singular)
et fargerikt bilde – a colorful picture (neuter singular)
fargerike tegninger – colorful drawings (plural)

But in predicative position (after er, blir, etc.) the pattern is:

Common gender singular: fargerik
- Tegningen er fargerik.
Neuter singular: fargerikt
- Bildet er fargerikt.
Plural (any gender): fargerike
- Tegningene er fargerike.
- Bildene er fargerike.

Since tegningen is common gender singular, the correct form is:

tegningen er fargerik

So fargerikt or fargerike would be wrong in this exact sentence.

What exactly does veldig mean here, and could I replace it with something else?

Veldig is an intensifier meaning very, really, or extremely.
So:

veldig fargerik = very colorful / really colorful

You can often replace veldig with other intensifiers:

svært fargerik – very / extremely colorful (a bit more formal)
kjempefargerik – super colorful (colloquial, with kjempe- prefix)
skikkelig fargerik – really colorful (informal)

The basic, neutral choice is veldig.

Could we say Bestemor synes at tegningen er veldig fargerik instead of sier? What’s the difference?

Yes, you can say that, but the meaning changes slightly:

sier = says (reports what she actually says out loud)
- Bestemor sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik.
  Grandma says that the drawing is very colorful.
synes = thinks / is of the opinion
- Bestemor synes at tegningen er veldig fargerik.
  Grandma thinks (in her opinion) that the drawing is very colorful.

Sier focuses on her spoken words; synes focuses on her opinion.

How would the sentence change if I clearly wanted to say my grandmother?

You would normally add a definite form plus a possessive:

Common options in Bokmål:

Bestemoren min sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik.
Bestemora mi sier at tegningen er veldig fargerik. (more dialectal/colloquial)

Structure:

bestemoren / bestemora – the grandmother
min / mi – my

The order [noun + definite ending] + [possessive] is the most neutral.
You can say min bestemor, but that tends to sound a bit more formal, emphatic, or written.

How do you pronounce tegningen and fargerik?

Approximate pronunciation in a standard East Norwegian accent:

Bestemor ≈ BEST-eh-mor
- Stress on the first syllable.
tegningen ≈ TAYN-ing-en
- First syllable like English “tame” but shorter (tei / tay).
- The g in tegn– is not strongly pronounced; it blends into the n.
- Stress on TEG– (TEG-ningen).
fargerik ≈ FAR-geh-reek
- Soft g like in “get”, followed by a schwa-like e (very short).
- Stress on FAR–.
veldig ≈ VEL-dig
- Stress on VEL–.

These are approximations; real pronunciation varies somewhat by dialect, but the stress and general sounds are as above.