Learn Hardcore Norwegian: På hver familiefest snakker hele slekten om hva vi skal spise til søndagsmiddag. - At every family party the whole extended family talks about what we shall eat for Sunday dinner.

So på hver familiefest literally means at each family party/gathering.
Using i would sound wrong here because i is used more for inside a physical space (i huset, i bilen, i Norge).

So:

riktig / correct: På hver familiefest snakker vi …
feil / wrong: I hver familiefest snakker vi …

What is the difference between "familiefest", "familieselskap", and "familiesammenkomst"?

All three involve family getting together, but there are small nuances:

familiefest – family party/celebration
- Slightly more informal or festive feeling (birthday, anniversary, Christmas, etc.)
familieselskap – family gathering/party
- Very common; can sound a bit more neutral or traditional. Often used for birthdays, confirmations, etc.
familiesammenkomst – family get-together/reunion
- More formal or descriptive. You might see it in written invitations or more formal speech.

In everyday speech, familiefest and familieselskap are probably the most common. In your sentence, you could say:

På hver familiefest …
På hvert familieselskap …

Both are natural.

What does "slekt" mean, and how is it different from "familie"?

familie = your immediate family: parents, children, siblings, maybe grandparents, depending on context.
slekt = your extended family / relatives: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, etc.

So:

hele familien – the whole (immediate) family
hele slekten – all the relatives / the whole clan

In the sentence "snakker hele slekten", it suggests a bigger group than just parents and children – more like the entire extended family.

Why is it "hele slekten" and not "all slekt" or something with "alle"?

Norwegian uses hele before a singular noun to mean “the whole / the entire”:

hele slekten – the whole extended family
hele dagen – the whole day
hele boka – the whole book

Alle is used before plural nouns or on its own to mean “all / everyone”:

alle slektningene – all the relatives
alle barna – all the children
Alle snakker. – Everyone is talking.

So:

hele slekten = “the whole extended family”
alle slektningene = “all the relatives”

Both are grammatical, but they focus slightly differently on the group.

Why is the word order "snakker hele slekten" and not "hele slekten snakker"?

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb (here, snakker) must be in second position in the sentence.

Your sentence starts with an adverbial phrase:

På hver familiefest (fronted adverbial)

That takes first position, so the verb must come next, in second position:

På hver familiefest
snakker
hele slekten …

So both of these are correct, just with different emphasis:

Hele slekten snakker om hva vi skal spise …
– “The whole family talks about what we’re going to eat …”
På hver familiefest snakker hele slekten om hva vi skal spise …
– “At every family gathering, the whole family talks about what we’re going to eat …”

If you put hele slekten immediately after på hver familiefest, the verb would no longer be in second position, and that would be wrong:

❌ På hver familiefest hele slekten snakker …

What does "om" mean in "snakker hele slekten om hva vi skal spise", and why is it needed?

Here, om is a preposition that means “about” in this context.

å snakke om noe – to talk about something
- Vi snakker om været. – We talk about the weather.
- De snakker om jobb. – They talk about work.

So:

snakker hele slekten om hva vi skal spise
= “the whole extended family talks about what we’re going to eat”

You can’t leave om out; without it, the sentence becomes ungrammatical:

❌ snakker hele slekten hva vi skal spise

Why is it "hva vi skal spise" and not "hva skal vi spise"?

This is the difference between a direct question and an indirect question.

Direct question (standalone question):
- Hva skal vi spise? – What are we going to eat?
Indirect question (embedded inside another sentence):
- Vi snakker om hva vi skal spise. – We talk about what we are going to eat.

In an indirect question, Norwegian does not invert the verb like in a direct question. The word order becomes more like a normal subordinate clause:

hva vi skal spise
(question word – subject – verb – rest)

So:

Direct: Hva skal vi spise?
Indirect: om hva vi skal spise

What is the function of "skal" in "hva vi skal spise"? Is it future tense?

Yes, skal here expresses a planned or intended future action:

vi skal spise – we are going to eat / we will eat

Norwegian doesn’t have a separate future tense like English; it usually uses:

skal + infinitive for plans/intentions
- Vi skal spise pizza. – We’re going to eat pizza (that’s the plan).
kommer til å + infinitive or just the present tense for more neutral or predicted future:
- Vi kommer til å spise pizza. – We’re likely to eat pizza.
- I morgen spiser vi pizza. – Tomorrow we eat pizza.

In your sentence, skal fits well because Sunday dinner is something planned and decided.

Why is it "til søndagsmiddag" and not "for søndagsmiddag" or "på søndagsmiddag"?

The preposition til is very often used with meals in the sense of “for (a meal)”:

Vi hadde suppe til middag. – We had soup for dinner.
Hva vil du ha til frokost? – What do you want for breakfast?

So til søndagsmiddag means “for Sunday dinner”.

Using for in this meaning is typically not used in Norwegian here, and på søndagsmiddag would sound like a specific event called “Sunday dinner” as an occasion, which is not the usual way to say this.

Correct/natural:

Vi snakker om hva vi skal spise til søndagsmiddag.
Vi snakker om hva vi skal spise til middag.

What exactly does the compound "søndagsmiddag" mean, and how is it different from "middag på søndag"?

Søndagsmiddag is a compound noun:

søndag + middag = Sunday dinner

It typically refers to the traditional, often slightly more formal or “big” dinner eaten on Sunday (often in the afternoon in Norwegian culture).

søndagsmiddag – the Sunday dinner as a concept or a specific meal.
middag på søndag – “dinner on Sunday” (a bit more neutral; just says when you eat dinner).

In your sentence:

hva vi skal spise til søndagsmiddag
= what we are going to eat for (the) Sunday dinner

You could also say:

hva vi skal spise til middag på søndag
This is also correct, but it sounds less like a traditional recurring “Sunday dinner” and more like just “the dinner we’ll have on Sunday.”

Why is it "hver familiefest" and not something like "alle familiefester"?

Both ideas are possible, but they have slightly different structures:

hver familiefest – each / every family party (singular)
alle familiefestene – all the family parties (plural, definite)

Your sentence focuses on what happens at each individual event:

På hver familiefest snakker hele slekten …
– At every family gathering (on each occasion), the whole family talks …

If you used alle, you’d need a plural form and the meaning shifts slightly:

På alle familiefestene snakker hele slekten om …
– At all the family gatherings, the whole family talks about …

Both are grammatical; hver emphasizes the repetition at each separate event.

What are the grammatical forms here: "familiefest", "slekt", and "søndagsmiddag"?

familiefest
- Gender: common (en/ei)
- Indefinite singular: en familiefest
- Definite singular: familiefesten
- In the sentence: hver familiefest – each family party (indefinite singular)
slekt
- Gender: common (en)
- Indefinite singular: en slekt
- Definite singular: slektEN
- In the sentence: hele slekten – the whole extended family (definite singular)
søndagsmiddag
- Compound noun: søndag + middag
- Gender: common (en)
- Indefinite singular: en søndagsmiddag
- Definite singular: søndagsmiddagen
- In the sentence: til søndagsmiddag – for Sunday dinner (indefinite singular; used as a kind of “meal type”)

How is this sentence typically pronounced, especially "hver" and "slekt"?

Approximate pronunciation in a standard East Norwegian accent (Oslo-ish):

På – /poː/
hver – /væːr/ (the h is silent; sounds like “vær”)
familiefest – /fɑˈmiːliəˌfest/
snakker – /ˈsnɑkːər/ (double k = longer k sound)
hele – /ˈheːlə/
slekten – /ˈʃlektən/ (sl often becomes a “sh”-like /ʃ/ in many accents)
om – /ɔm/
hva – /vɑː/ (the h is usually silent; sounds like “va”)
vi – /viː/
skal – /skɑl/
spise – /ˈspiːsə/
til – /til/ or /ti/ (often /ti/ in casual speech)
søndagsmiddag – /ˈsœndɑːgsˌmidɑg/ (often with a fairly strong stress on søn-)

So spoken fairly naturally:

På hver familiefest snakker hele slekten om hva vi skal spise til søndagsmiddag.
≈ PÅ vær fɑMIːliəfest SNAKːər HEːlə ʃLEKTən om VAː vi SKɑL SPIːsə ti SØNDɑːgsmidɑg (very rough guide).