Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Bestemor overrasket oss ofte med kake på familiefest. - Grandma often surprised us with cake at family parties.

Family titles like Bestemor (grandmother), Mamma, Pappa, Onkel are often used almost like names in Norwegian, especially when you are clearly talking about your or the family’s grandmother. In that use, they:

Are capitalized: Bestemor, Mamma, Pappa
Usually do not take a possessive or article: Bestemor kom på besøk (Grandma came to visit)

You can use other forms, but they change the nuance:

bestemoren / bestemora = the grandmother (a specific one, but slightly more neutral or descriptive)
- Bestemoren min overrasket oss ofte med kake
min bestemor / bestemoren min = my grandmother
- Stronger emphasis on my, good if you need to distinguish her from other grandmothers.

In your sentence, Bestemor on its own sounds natural and warm, like talking about the family’s grandma that everyone knows.

Why is the word order overrasket oss ofte and not ofte overrasket oss or overrasket ofte oss?

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb must be in second position in the sentence.

Your sentence starts with the subject:

Subject: Bestemor
Verb (must be in 2nd position): overrasket
Then comes the rest: objects, adverbs, etc.

So:

Bestemor overrasket oss ofte med kake … ✅

Now, where does ofte go? In a neutral sentence, common adverbs like ofte, ikke, aldri usually go after the verb but before most other information, often before or after the object depending on emphasis. The two natural options are:

Bestemor overrasket oss ofte med kake … (common, very natural)
Bestemor overrasket ofte oss med kake … (possible, but sounds a bit marked/less usual)

Putting ofte before the verb, like:

Bestemor ofte overrasket oss … ❌

breaks the V2 rule, so it is not correct in a neutral main clause.

However, if you start the sentence with Ofte, then inversion happens:

Ofte overrasket bestemor oss med kake på familiefest. ✅
- Now, Ofte is in position 1, the verb overrasket is still in position 2, and the subject bestemor comes after the verb.

What is the difference between overrasket and har overrasket here? Why is the simple past used?

overrasket (preterite/simple past):
- Used for actions that took place in the past and are completed or belong to a finished time period.
- Also used for habitual actions in the past.
- In your sentence, it means that in the past, Grandma used to do this regularly.
har overrasket (present perfect: has surprised):
- Used when the past action has relevance to the present, or when talking about life experience, or when the time is not specified or still “open”.

Compare:

Bestemor overrasket oss ofte med kake på familiefest.
→ In the past, she often did this. We are describing that time as a completed period.
Bestemor har ofte overrasket oss med kake på familiefest.
→ She has often surprised us, and this is relevant up to now; maybe she still does it.

Because your sentence sounds like telling a story about how things were, the simple past overrasket is the natural choice.

Why do we use oss and not vi? How do I know when to use which?

vi and oss are two forms of the same pronoun:

vi = subject form (we)
oss = object form (us)

Use vi as the subject of the verb:

Vi spiste kake. – We ate cake.

Use oss as the object (the one something is done to), or after prepositions:

Bestemor overrasket oss. – Grandma surprised us.
Hun lagde kake til oss. – She made cake for us.

In your sentence:

Subject: Bestemor
Verb: overrasket
Object (who was surprised): oss

So oss is correct here.

Why is it med kake and not med en kake? What is the difference?

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things.

med kake (no article):
- Treats kake like a mass noun (cake in general), or focuses more on the idea of cake than on counting pieces.
- Suggests she brought cake, not necessarily one single cake, and not stressing the number.
- Very natural in this context: Grandma often surprised us with cake.
med en kake (with en):
- Means with a cake, one individual cake.
- Emphasizes the unit or number: one cake.

So:

Bestemor overrasket oss ofte med kake.
→ Natural, general: she used to bring cake (as a treat).
Bestemor overrasket oss ofte med en kake.
→ Grammatically fine, but it sounds like you care about it being one cake (for example, one big cake each time).

In everyday speech, when talking about food as something you serve or share, leaving out the article like med kake, med kaffe, med is is very common.

Why is it på familiefest and not i familiefest or i en familiefest?

In Norwegian, some events, activities, and social situations typically use the preposition på, not i. These include:

på fest – at a party
på jobb – at work
på skole – at school
på kino – at the cinema
på møte – at a meeting

A familiefest (family party/gathering) falls into this category, so:

på familiefest = at a family party / at family get‑togethers

Using i familiefest would sound wrong in standard Norwegian, because i is more for physical interiors, containers, or more literal locations:

i huset – in the house
i bilen – in the car
i byen – in the city

You could say på en familiefest if you want the indefinite article:

… med kake på en familiefest. – … with cake at a family party.

But when you mean it more generally (at family parties as an event type), på familiefest without an article is very natural.

What exactly is familiefest? Why is it one word and not familie fest?

Norwegian loves compound nouns. Two nouns are often joined to form one new noun with a more specific meaning.

familie = family
fest = party
familiefest = a family party / family gathering

Writing familie fest as two words would be incorrect. It must be one compound word.

General rules:

Put the describing noun first, the main noun last:
- familiefest (a type of fest)
- sommerferie (summer holiday)
- barnebok (children’s book)

In speech, you hear a slight change in stress: the main stress is usually on the first part of the compound.

Can ofte be placed in other positions, like at the start of the sentence? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, you have some flexibility with ofte:

Bestemor overrasket oss ofte med kake på familiefest.
- Neutral and common. Emphasis is on overrasket oss ofte as a description of her usual behavior.
Ofte overrasket bestemor oss med kake på familiefest.
- Starts with Ofte, which moves the focus to the frequency: Often, Grandma surprised us…
- Grammatically correct because of the V2 rule:
  - First element: Ofte
  - Verb in second position: overrasket
  - Subject: bestemor
Bestemor overrasket ofte oss med kake …
- Possible, but less usual; can sound a bit marked or like you are emphasizing oss (us in particular).

The meaning (that she did it frequently) stays roughly the same, but word order can slightly shift what you emphasize.

Could I also say Bestemoren overrasket oss ofte med kake på familiefest? How would that sound?

Yes, Bestemoren overrasket oss ofte med kake på familiefest is grammatically correct, but it has a different nuance.

Bestemor overrasket oss ofte …
- Feels more personal and familiar, like talking about Grandma as a family figure.
Bestemoren overrasket oss ofte …
- Literally the grandmother.
- Could sound more neutral or descriptive, as if you are telling a story about a particular grandmother (maybe not necessarily your own) or referring to her more as a character than as our Grandma.

In most family stories about your own grandma, Bestemor on its own is the most natural and affectionate choice.

Is kake singular or plural here? How would I say cakes?

In med kake, kake is grammatically singular (indefinite singular form), but because there is no article, it is understood more like cake in general, not “one cake”.

If you clearly want plural, you use the plural forms:

Indefinite plural: kaker
- Bestemor overrasket oss ofte med kaker. – Grandma often surprised us with cakes.
Definite plural: kakene
- Bestemor overrasket oss ofte med kakene hun hadde bakt. – … with the cakes she had baked.

So:

med kake → with cake (as a treat, not focusing on number)
med kaker → with cakes (several cakes)
med en kake → with one cake (emphasizing a single cake each time)