Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Vi snakker om fortid, nåtid og framtid i norsktimen. - We talk about past, present and future in the Norwegian lesson.

We talk about past, present and future in Norwegian class (in general / as part of the course).
We are talking about past, present and future in Norwegian class (right now).

Context decides which reading is intended, but the verb form stays the same: snakker.

In English I would say the past, the present and the future. Why is it just fortid, nåtid og framtid without the in Norwegian?

Norwegian often uses the indefinite singular for general concepts, where English uses the:

Fortid – past (as a concept)
Nåtid – present
Framtid – future

Using them without the definite ending here makes it sound like you are talking about these ideas in general, not specific instances.

You could also say:

Vi snakker om fortida, nåtida og framtida.

with the definite endings (-a or -en depending on dialect/variety), and that is also natural. In this sentence, the difference is subtle; both versions are usually understood as “the past, the present and the future” as general concepts. The bare form just feels a bit more textbook-like and abstract.

Could I say Vi snakker om fortiden, nåtiden og framtiden with -en at the end? Is that wrong?

It’s not wrong; it’s grammatically fine:

fortid → fortiden
nåtid → nåtiden
framtid → framtiden

All of those are standard definite forms in Bokmål.

However, in ordinary speech and writing, many people prefer:

fortida, nåtida, framtida

(using -a as the definite ending) or just the bare forms as in your sentence.

So:

Vi snakker om fortid, nåtid og framtid…
Vi snakker om fortida, nåtida og framtida…
Vi snakker om fortiden, nåtiden og framtiden…

All are acceptable, but they differ slightly in style and dialect flavor. Your original version (bare forms) is clean and neutral for a textbook-style sentence.

Are fortid, nåtid, and framtid nouns or adverbs like before, now, later?

In this sentence they are nouns:

fortid – past (literally: past-time)
nåtid – present (now-time)
framtid – future (forward-time)

You can see this more clearly with articles:

en fortid – a past
fortiden / fortida – the past

For adverbs, Norwegian usually uses other words:

før – before / earlier
nå – now
senere – later

So fortid / nåtid / framtid are time nouns, not time adverbs.

Why is it written as one word norsktimen and not norsk timen or norsk time?

Norwegian almost always writes compound nouns as one word.

Here we have:

norsk (Norwegian) + time (lesson, class period)

First you get the compound noun:

norsktime – Norwegian lesson / Norwegian class (one period)

Then you add the definite ending -en (because time is a masculine noun: en time, timen):

norsktime → norsktimen – the Norwegian lesson / the Norwegian class (this specific one)

So:

norsk time – looks wrong to Norwegians; it should be one word.
norsktime – a Norwegian lesson (indefinite)
norsktimen – the Norwegian lesson (definite)

What is the difference between norsktime and norsktimen?

It’s just indefinite vs definite, like a vs the:

en norsktime – a Norwegian lesson
norsktimen – the Norwegian lesson (the one we’re in / a specific one everyone knows about)

In your sentence:

i norsktimen = in the Norwegian lesson / in Norwegian class

Using the definite form makes sense because you are referring to the class you are in, not just any random class.

Could I say i en norsktime instead of i norsktimen? How would that change the meaning?

Yes, you can say:

Vi snakker om fortid, nåtid og framtid i en norsktime.

That would be understood as:

We talk about past, present and future in a Norwegian lesson / in a Norwegian class (at some point, not necessarily a specific one we already know).

The difference:

i norsktimen – in the (current or known) Norwegian class.
i en norsktime – in a Norwegian class (more vague, could be any such class).

In typical classroom talk, i norsktimen (in the Norwegian lesson) is the most natural.

Why is it i norsktimen and not på norsktimen? I often see both i and på with places.

Both i and på can be used with activities and locations, and usage depends on convention.

For school subjects / lessons, i is very common:

i norsktimen – in the Norwegian lesson
i mattetimen – in the math lesson
i engelsktimen – in the English lesson

You can also hear på norsken / på norsktimen in some dialects or casual speech, but i norsktimen is the safest and most standard-sounding choice in Bokmål.

Why is norsk not capitalized in norsktimen? In English we write Norwegian class with a capital N.

Norwegian capitalization rules are different from English:

Names of languages and nationalities are not capitalized in Norwegian unless they start a sentence.

So we write:

norsk – Norwegian
engelsk – English
tysk – German

and:

norsktimen, engelsktimen, tysklæreren – all lowercase inside the sentence.

English: Norwegian, English, German → capitalized
Norwegian: norsk, engelsk, tysk → not capitalized (except at the beginning of a sentence).

The word order confuses me. Why is it Vi snakker om fortid, nåtid og framtid i norsktimen and not Vi snakker i norsktimen om fortid, nåtid og framtid?

Both word orders are actually possible:

Vi snakker om fortid, nåtid og framtid i norsktimen.
Vi snakker i norsktimen om fortid, nåtid og framtid.

The most natural in neutral style is usually (1): verb + object(s) + place/time at the end.

Some word-order points:

Norwegian main clauses typically follow Subject – Verb – (Object) – (Adverbials).
Place and time adverbials like i norsktimen often come towards the end of the sentence, as in your example.

You can move adverbials around for emphasis:

I norsktimen snakker vi om fortid, nåtid og framtid.
(Now you emphasize in the Norwegian class.)

Your original sentence is a very natural default order.

What is the difference between framtid and fremtid? I’ve seen both spellings.

Both framtid and fremtid are correct in Bokmål and mean future.

framtid – more “Norwegian-looking”, common in everyday language
fremtid – a bit more conservative / traditional Bokmål spelling

In practice:

You’ll see framtid and fremtid used side by side.
They are pronounced almost the same in many dialects.

In your sentence, framtid is perfectly fine and fully standard.

How do you pronounce the special letters in this sentence, like å in nåtid and the o / ø sounds?

Approximate pronunciation in a common Eastern Norwegian accent (using rough English-like hints):

Vi – like vee
snakker – roughly SNAK-ker
(short a like in “father”, double kk gives a strong /k/ sound)
om – like “om” in “om-nibus”; a short o (not like English home)
fortid – roughly FOR-teed (with a short o, not like for in English)
nåtid – å is like the vowel in British “law” or “saw” → NOH-teed
framtid – a as in “father” → FRAM-teed
i – like English “ee” in “see”
norsktimen – roughly NORSK-tee-men
- o similar to å, a rounded vowel, somewhere between “or” and “aw”
- rs often sounds like a sh sound in many accents: NORSH-tee-men

The key special vowels:

å – like “aw” in “saw” (but tenser/shorter)
Norwegian short o – a rounded vowel, not the same as English long “o” in “go”.