Vi snakker lenge i stuen.

In Norwegian, verbs do not change with the subject. The present tense form is the same for I, you, we, they, etc.

• å snakke = to speak / to talk
• Present tense: snakker (for all persons)

So you get:

• Jeg snakker – I talk / I am talking
• Du snakker – You talk / You are talking
• Vi snakker – We talk / We are talking

There is no separate ending like -s, -ing, or special we-form. The subject vi is already there, so snakker vi would mean “do we talk / are we talking?” only if you invert the word order to form a question:

• Vi snakker lenge i stuen. – Statement
• Snakker vi lenge i stuen? – Question

Lang is an adjective (describes a noun), while lenge is an adverb (describes a verb or how something happens).

• lang = long (adjective)

  • en lang bok – a long book
  • en lang dag – a long day

• lenge = for a long time (adverb of time/duration)

  • Vi venter lenge. – We wait for a long time.
  • De snakker lenge. – They talk for a long time.

In Vi snakker lenge i stuen, lenge describes how long we talk, so you need the adverb form.

You can say Vi snakker i stuen lenge, and it is grammatically correct. The basic meaning is the same.

However, the most natural and neutral word order for this type of sentence is usually:

Subject – Verb – (Time) – (Place)

Here:

• Vi – subject
• snakker – verb
• lenge – time (duration)
• i stuen – place

So Vi snakker lenge i stuen follows the typical pattern and sounds very natural.
Vi snakker i stuen lenge can sound a bit more marked, as if you are emphasizing in the living room especially, but context and intonation decide the exact nuance.

Norwegian usually attaches the to the end of the noun as a suffix instead of using a separate word.

• en stue – a living room (indefinite)
• stuen – the living room (definite)

So i stuen literally is “in living-room-the”, which corresponds to in the living room in English.

Norwegian definite suffixes (Bokmål, masculine/feminine):

• -en / -n: en stol → stolen (chair → the chair)
• -a: ei bok → boka (book → the book)
• -et / -t: et hus → huset (house → the house)

All three are forms of the same word stue (living room), but with different definiteness and style:

• stue – base form, indefinite

  • en stue – a living room

• stuen – definite form (standard Bokmål)

  • stuen – the living room

• stua – also definite, more colloquial / spoken style, and common in many dialects

  • stua – the living room

So you might see:

• Vi sitter i stuen. – We sit in the living room. (standard written)
• Vi sitter i stua. – Same meaning, more informal / dialectal feel.

In your sentence, stuen is just the standard definite form.

i and på both often translate as in / on, but Norwegian uses them in fairly fixed combinations.

For rooms inside a house, i is the normal preposition in standard Bokmål:

• i stuen – in the living room
• i kjøkkenet / på kjøkkenet – in the kitchen (both heard, but på kjøkkenet is very common)
• i gangen – in the hallway

With stue, the standard and safest choice is i stuen / i stua.

In some dialects, people say på stua, but if you’re learning standard Norwegian, use i stuen.

Alone, lenge just means for a long time and is neutral:

• Vi snakker lenge. – We talk for a long time.

When you add for, it usually means too long:

• Vi snakker for lenge. – We talk too long / for too long.
• Jeg sov for lenge. – I slept too long.

So Vi snakker lenge i stuen is neutral. If you say Vi snakker for lenge i stuen, you are generally complaining or pointing out that the time is excessive.

Base sentence (present tense):

• Vi snakker lenge i stuen. – We talk / are talking for a long time in the living room.

Past tense:

• Vi snakket lenge i stuen. – We talked for a long time in the living room.

Future with “skal” (planned/intended future):

• Vi skal snakke lenge i stuen. – We are going to talk for a long time in the living room.

Norwegian does not use a separate continuous form like English “are talking”; the simple present plus a time expression covers both “talk” and “are talking”.

Yes. å prate also means to talk / to chat.

• å snakke – to speak, to talk (neutral, very common)
• å prate – to talk, to chat (often a bit more informal / conversational)

So:

• Vi snakker lenge i stuen. – We talk for a long time in the living room.
• Vi prater lenge i stuen. – Same basic meaning, maybe with a slight feeling of chatting rather than just speaking formally.

Both are correct in everyday Norwegian.

In standard Norwegian, you must include the subject pronoun in normal sentences. Norwegian is not a “pro‑drop” language like Spanish or Italian.

So you say:

• Vi snakker lenge i stuen. – Correct.
• Snakker lenge i stuen. – Sounds incomplete or like a fragment; usually wrong as a full sentence.

The subject pronoun vi (we) is required in ordinary statements and questions.

The normal position of ikke (not) is after the verb in main clauses.

Start:

• Vi snakker lenge i stuen.

Add ikke right after snakker:

• Vi snakker ikke lenge i stuen. – We do not talk for a long time in the living room.

The order is:

• Vi (subject)
• snakker (verb)
• ikke (negation)
• lenge (time)
• i stuen (place)

Approximate pronunciation (standard Eastern Norwegian):

• Vi – /viː/ – like English vee

• snakker – /ˈsnakːər/

  • sn pronounced together, like sn in snow
  • a like a in father
  • kk is a short, strong k sound
  • final er often sounds like a weak ə(r)

• lenge – /ˈleŋə/

  • e like e in bed
  • ng (ng in lenge) is one sound, like ng in sing
  • final e is a schwa-like sound ə

• i – /i/ – like ee in see (short)

• stuen – /ˈstʉːən/ (approx.)

  • st as in stay
  • u here is the Norwegian y/ʉ sound, lips rounded as for u, tongue as for i (a bit like French u in tu)
  • often heard as two syllables stuu-en

Put together slowly:

• Vi snakker lenge i stuen. → Vee snak-ker leng-eh ee stuu-en.

With normal speech, it flows more:

• Vi snakker lenge i stuen.