Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere.

Høfligheten hennes
- Literally: the politeness her.
- Structure: noun + definite ending (-en) + possessive after.
- Very common, quite neutral and natural in spoken and written Norwegian.
- Focuses first on the politeness, then specifies whose it is.
Hennes høflighet
- Literally: her politeness.
- Structure: possessive before + noun without -en.
- Also correct, but a bit more formal or emphatic on her.
- Sounds slightly more “marked” in everyday speech.

In this sentence, Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere sounds very natural and neutral in Norwegian.

Could the sentence also be Hennes høflighet gjør møtet lettere?

Yes, Hennes høflighet gjør møtet lettere is correct Norwegian and means the same thing.

The difference is mostly nuance:

Høfligheten hennes: more neutral, common in everyday language.
Hennes høflighet: puts a little more emphasis on her, so it can sound slightly more formal or stylistically “heavier”.

Both versions would be understood in exactly the same way in most contexts.

Why do we have both the ending -en in høfligheten and the possessive hennes? Isn’t that double definiteness?

Here it’s not the classic “double definiteness” pattern you see with adjectives (den høflige jenta), but it is a place where definiteness appears twice in form:

høflighet = politeness (indefinite)
høfligheten = the politeness (definite)
høfligheten hennes = the politeness of hers

Rule of thumb:

If the possessive comes after the noun, the noun normally takes the definite ending:
- boka mi, gutten hans, huset vårt, høfligheten hennes
If the possessive comes before the noun, the noun is normally without the definite ending:
- min bok, hans gutt, vårt hus, hennes høflighet

So høfligheten hennes follows the regular “postposed possessive” pattern.

Why is it hennes and not sin / sitt / sine?

Hennes is the non‑reflexive possessive for a female person (her), while sin / sitt / sine are reflexive possessives.

Sin / sitt / sine refer back to the subject of the same clause.
Hennes refers to some female person who is not the subject of the clause.

In Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere, the grammatical subject is høfligheten, not the woman herself, so you cannot use sin here.

Compare:

Hun gjør møtet lettere med høfligheten sin.
- Subject = hun
- sin correctly refers back to hun.
Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere.
- Subject = høfligheten
- The owner is hun, but she is not the subject; therefore hennes, not sin.

Why is it gjør (makes) and not er (is), like “Her politeness is the meeting easier”?

Norwegian uses gjøre + object + adjective to mean “make something (adjective)”:

gjøre møtet lettere = make the meeting easier
gjøre livet enklere = make life simpler
gjøre jobben vanskeligere = make the job harder

Using er here would not work:

Høfligheten hennes er møtet lettere – incorrect.

If you want to use er or blir, you need a different structure, for example:

Høfligheten hennes gjør at møtet blir lettere.
Her politeness makes that the meeting becomes easier.
På grunn av høfligheten hennes er møtet lettere.
Because of her politeness, the meeting is easier.

What tense is gjør, and how would I say this sentence in the past or future?

Gjør is the present tense of gjøre (to do / to make).

Present:
- Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere.
  Her politeness makes the meeting easier.
Past (preterite):
- Høfligheten hennes gjorde møtet lettere.
  Her politeness made the meeting easier.
Future (using vil):
- Høfligheten hennes vil gjøre møtet lettere.
  Her politeness will make the meeting easier.

The verb gjøre conjugates (in Bokmål) as:
gjøre – gjør – gjorde – har gjort.

Why is it møtet and not just møte?

Møte is a neuter noun:

et møte = a meeting (indefinite singular)
møtet = the meeting (definite singular)
møter = meetings (indefinite plural)
møtene = the meetings (definite plural)

In the sentence, we are talking about a specific meeting, not meetings in general, so Norwegian uses the definite form:

gjør møtet lettere = makes the meeting easier.

If you spoke in general terms, you might say:

Høflighet gjør møter lettere.
Politeness makes meetings easier.

Why is the adjective lettere (easier) instead of lett (easy)?

Lett = easy
Letter(e) = easier (comparative)
Lettest = easiest (superlative)

The sentence describes a change in degree: the meeting becomes easier than it would otherwise be, not just easy in an absolute sense.

Compare:

Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lett.
Her politeness makes the meeting easy. (no comparison, just easy)
Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere.
Her politeness makes the meeting easier. (than without her politeness, or than expected)

The comparative lettere is therefore the natural choice to match the English meaning “easier”.

Does lettere change form to agree with møtet (neuter), like adjectives normally do?

In the comparative form, adjectives in Norwegian do not change for gender or number. The form is the same for all:

Møtet er lettere. (neuter singular)
Jobben er lettere. (masculine/feminine singular)
Oppgavene er lettere. (plural)

Only the base form (positive) and sometimes the superlative used before a noun change:

et lett møte, en lett jobb, lette oppgaver
det letteste møtet, den letteste jobben, de letteste oppgavene

So lettere stays lettere regardless of møtet being neuter.

Is the word order Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere fixed, or can I move hennes?

The natural word order here is:

[Subject] Høfligheten hennes + [Verb] gjør + [Object] møtet + [Predicative] lettere

You cannot move hennes away from høfligheten; they belong together as a noun phrase.

These are fine:

Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere.
Hennes høflighet gjør møtet lettere. (reordered within the noun phrase)

But you cannot say:

*Høfligheten gjør hennes møtet lettere. – incorrect
*Gjør høfligheten hennes møtet lettere. – incorrect as a neutral statement (it can work as a yes/no question with different intonation: Gjør høfligheten hennes møtet lettere?)

So you either keep hennes after høfligheten, or move it in front and drop the definite -en: hennes høflighet.

Can I leave out hennes and just say Høfligheten gjør møtet lettere?

Yes, grammatically you can, but the meaning changes:

Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere.
It is her politeness in particular that makes the meeting easier.
Høfligheten gjør møtet lettere.
Politeness (as a general quality, not tied to a specific person) makes the meeting easier.

So if you want to highlight that it is her politeness, you need hennes.

Is høflighet countable in Norwegian? Could I say høfligheter?

Høflighet is usually treated as an uncountable abstract noun, like politeness in English:

Hun viser mye høflighet.
She shows a lot of politeness.

The plural høfligheter exists but is rare and sounds quite marked or literary, often meaning “polite acts” or “courtesies”:

Han viste oss mange små høfligheter.
He showed us many little courtesies.

In the sentence Høfligheten hennes gjør møtet lettere, we use the definite singular of an abstract noun (høfligheten) to refer to her politeness as a whole. This is very normal for abstract nouns in Norwegian.