Barna leker i hagen i nærheten.

The children play in the garden nearby.

Breakdown of Barna leker i hagen i nærheten.

• barnet: the child
• i: in
• leke: to play
• hagen: the garden
• i nærheten: nearby

Questions & Answers about Barna leker i hagen i nærheten.

What exactly does barna mean, and how is it formed?

Barna means “the children”.

The noun barn is a bit irregular:

• et barn = a child (singular, indefinite)
• barn = children (plural, indefinite)
• barna = the children (plural, definite)

So the -a at the end is the plural definite ending, which corresponds to English “the” in this case.

Why is it barna and not just barn?

Norwegian marks definiteness on the noun instead of (or in addition to) using a separate word like the.

• barn = children (in general, not specific)
• barna = the children (a specific group that speaker and listener know about)

In the sentence Barna leker i hagen i nærheten, we’re talking about specific children (for example, the children we both know), so the definite form barna is used.

Could I say barnene instead of barna?

No. For barn, the correct plural definite form is barna, not barnene.

Many Norwegian neuter nouns form plural definite with -ene, but barn is irregular:

• et hus – hus – husene
• et barn – barn – barna (not barnene)

Why isn’t there a word for “are” like in English “The children are playing”?

Norwegian usually does not use an extra auxiliary verb like to be for the present continuous.

• English: The children are playing.
• Norwegian: Barna leker.

Leker already covers the idea of “are playing / play”. Context tells you whether it is a current, ongoing action or a general habit.

What is the difference between å leke and å spille?

Both can translate as “to play”, but they are used in different contexts:

• å leke: to play in a childlike way, with toys, running around, pretending, etc.
  
  • Barna leker i hagen. = The children are playing in the garden.
• å spille: to play games with rules or to play instruments or sports.
  • å spille fotball = to play football
  • å spille piano = to play the piano
  • å spille kort = to play cards

Here leker is correct because the children are just playing (not playing a specific sport or instrument).

Why is it i hagen and not på hagen?

In Norwegian, the preposition i is used for being inside or within an area like a garden, park, room, or house:

• i hagen = in the garden
• i parken = in the park
• i huset = in the house

På is used more for on top of or at certain kinds of places (e.g. på bordet – on the table, på skolen – at school), but a garden is normally treated as an area you are in, so i hagen is natural.

Why is hagen in the definite form? Could you say just i hage?

In normal Norwegian, you say i hagen = “in the garden”.

Like English, Norwegian usually uses the definite form when both speaker and listener can identify which garden is meant:

• hagen = the garden
• en hage = a garden

I hage is possible only in certain fixed or special expressions (and even then sounds marked), so for an ordinary sentence about a specific place, i hagen is the natural choice.

What does i nærheten literally mean, and why do you need i again?

Literally:

• i = in
• nærheten = the nearness / the vicinity

So i nærheten = “in the vicinity / nearby”.

Grammatically, nærheten behaves like a noun (it’s “the nearness”), so it normally takes a preposition: i nærheten. That’s why you can’t drop the i and say *hagen nærheten.

Should there be an av after i nærheten, like i nærheten av?

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things:

• i nærheten (alone) = nearby / in the area (often understood as near here or near the general context)
  
  • Barna leker i hagen i nærheten. = The children are playing in the garden nearby.
• i nærheten av X = near X specifically
  
  • Barna leker i hagen i nærheten av huset. = The children are playing in the garden near the house.

In your sentence, i nærheten on its own is enough to mean “nearby (to where we are / to the place being talked about)”.

Can I change the word order, for example: I hagen i nærheten leker barna?

Yes, that is grammatically correct. Norwegian allows you to front adverbials for emphasis:

• Barna leker i hagen i nærheten. (neutral: focus on what the children are doing)
• I hagen i nærheten leker barna. (slightly more focus on where this is happening)

Both are fine; the first is more typical in everyday speech. Changing the order of i hagen and i nærheten (e.g. i nærheten i hagen) would normally sound awkward here, because i nærheten more naturally comes last as a looser, final modifier.

What exactly does i nærheten refer to here? Near what?

By default, i nærheten is understood as “near here”—near the speaker’s or listener’s current location, or near the place that is already clear in the context of the conversation.

If the context was, for example, a particular house you are talking about, i nærheten could mean “near that house”, even if it’s not mentioned directly in the sentence. The exact reference comes from context, not from the words alone.

Could I use ungene instead of barna?

Yes, but it changes the tone:

• barna = the children (neutral, standard)
• ungene = the kids (more informal/colloquial)

So Ungene leker i hagen i nærheten. would be like saying “The kids are playing in the garden nearby” in a more casual style.