Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Når strømregningen og skatten kommer samme uke, blir jeg litt stresset. - When the electricity bill and the tax come in the same week, I get a bit stressed.

når is used for:
- Present and future time:
  - Når jeg er trøtt, legger jeg meg tidlig. = When I am tired, I go to bed early.
- Repeated or general situations in the past (like “whenever”):
  - Når jeg var liten, lekte jeg mye ute. = When(ever) I was little, I played outside a lot.
da is used for:
- One specific event in the past:
  - Da strømregningen og skatten kom samme uke, ble jeg stresset. = When the bill and the tax arrived in the same week, I got stressed (that one particular time).

In your sentence, the speaker is talking about a general, repeated situation (whenever those two things arrive the same week), so når is correct. If it was one specific past event, you would use da and switch the main clause to past tense: ble jeg litt stresset.

Why are strømregningen and skatten in the definite form with -en at the end?

In Norwegian, the definite article (“the”) is usually a suffix on the noun:

en strømregning = an electricity bill
strømregningen = the electricity bill
en skatt = a tax
skatten = the tax

They’re definite here because the speaker means that electricity bill and that tax bill that are coming (for example, the regular ones you get every year). In English we also say the electricity bill and the tax (bill).

Grammatically:

strømregning is a masculine noun:
indefinite: en strømregning
definite: strømregningen
skatt is also masculine:
indefinite: en skatt
definite: skatten

Why is it strømregningen and not strømregningen with some extra g or double n? How is that formed?

The base word is (en) strømregning:

strøm = electricity
regning = bill

To make it definite (add “the”), you attach -en:

strømregning + en → strømregningen

No extra letters are added; you just stick -en onto the end of the whole compound. Norwegian normally doesn’t change spelling inside the word when you add the definite ending. Same pattern:

en telefonregning → telefonregningen (the phone bill)
en husleie → husleien (the rent)

Why is the word order blir jeg and not jeg blir in the main clause?

Norwegian has a “verb-second” rule in main clauses: the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

When you start the sentence with something that is not the subject (here, a whole når-clause), the verb still has to be second in the main clause, so the subject moves after the verb:

Neutral order: Jeg blir litt stresset når …
(subject jeg comes first, verb blir second)
With the når-clause in front:
Når strømregningen og skatten kommer samme uke, blir jeg litt stresset.
Here, the whole Når … uke part counts as the first element, so blir must be second, and jeg comes after it.

This inversion (verb before subject) after a fronted element is very typical in Norwegian main clauses.

Why is there a comma before blir jeg litt stresset?

The comma separates a subordinate clause from the main clause.

Når strømregningen og skatten kommer samme uke = subordinate clause (introduced by når)
blir jeg litt stresset = main clause

Rule of thumb in written Norwegian:

When a subordinate clause (starting with når, fordi, hvis, etc.) comes before the main clause, you normally put a comma after it.
If the subordinate clause comes after the main clause, a comma is usually optional or omitted in modern, less formal writing:
- Jeg blir litt stresset når strømregningen og skatten kommer samme uke. (no comma needed)

Why is it samme uke and not i samme uke or something with an article like den samme uken?

All of these are possible, but they’re slightly different in style or emphasis:

samme uke
Very natural, compact expression: “the same week”. Here samme (“same”) tends to make the noun feel definite by itself, so you don’t need an article or definite ending.
i samme uke
Literally “in the same week”. Also correct and common. Many speakers would say:
Når strømregningen og skatten kommer i samme uke, …
The i just makes the time expression a bit more explicit.
den samme uken / den samme uka
More explicit and a bit more emphatic: “that same week”. You’d use this when referring back to a specific week already mentioned.

In your sentence, samme uke is a normal, fluent way of saying “in the same week”.

Why is uke in the bare form in samme uke and not uka/uken?

With samme (“same”), Norwegian often uses the noun in the bare, indefinite-looking form, but the meaning is still “that same X”:

samme dag = the same day
samme år = the same year
samme uke = the same week

The word samme itself carries the definiteness idea in these time expressions, so you don’t need the definite suffix (-en / -a) on uke.

You could say den samme uka/uken for more emphasis or if you refer to a specific, already-known week, but samme uke is shorter and more neutral.

Why do we use blir (“become”) instead of er (“am”) here?

blir (from å bli) literally means “become / get”, and is very often used for:

Reactions to situations
Changes of state
Temporary feelings

So:

blir jeg litt stresset = I get a bit stressed / I become a bit stressed (as a reaction when that happens)

If you said er jeg litt stresset, it would sound more like “I am a bit stressed (at that time)” and less like a direct reaction or change. Native speakers almost always use bli for this type of “I get X when Y happens” structure.

What exactly does litt do in litt stresset?

litt literally means “a little / a bit” and here it modifies the adjective stresset:

stresset = stressed
litt stresset = a bit stressed, somewhat stressed

It softens the statement so it doesn’t sound too strong. Compare:

Jeg blir stresset. = I get stressed. (neutral/stronger)
Jeg blir litt stresset. = I get a bit stressed. (milder)
Jeg blir veldig stresset. = I get very stressed. (strong)

litt is often used before adjectives and adverbs to weaken the meaning.

Why is it stresset and not something that agrees with jeg in gender or number?

In Norwegian, adjectives after the verb with å være (to be) or å bli (to become) usually:

Don’t change form for grammatical gender (masculine/feminine/neuter) in the singular
Only get a plural ending in some cases

The form stresset here is the common predicative form:

Jeg er stresset. = I am stressed.
Hun blir stresset. = She gets stressed.
Vi er stresset(e). = We are stressed.

In spoken and informal written Bokmål, many people keep stresset even for plural (vi er stresset). More traditional writing would add -e: stressete for plural: Vi er stressete.

So stresset does not change with jeg; it’s just the normal form used in this position.

I’ve seen stressa instead of stresset. What’s the difference?

Both exist, but they differ in style and dialect:

stresset
- Standard Bokmål form
- Used in formal writing, textbooks, and most neutral contexts
stressa
- More colloquial, often associated with spoken language and some dialects
- Very common in everyday speech

You could easily hear:
Når strømregningen og skatten kommer samme uke, blir jeg litt stressa.
In formal written Norwegian, stresset is safer.

Why is the verb kommer used for bills? Could I say ankommer instead?

komme is the normal, everyday verb for “come / arrive” in many contexts:

Bussen kommer. = The bus is coming.
Regningen kommer i posten. = The bill arrives in the mail.

For bills, letters, emails, etc., komme is what native speakers use most naturally.

ankomme exists, but it is:

More formal/literal
Mostly used for transportation or official arrivals:
Toget ankommer klokka 18.00. = The train arrives at 18:00.

So Når strømregningen og skatten kommer … is the natural choice.
ankommer would sound too formal or strange for everyday talk about bills.

Why is the verb kommer the same for all persons? Shouldn’t it change like in English “come/comes”?

Norwegian verbs do not change form for person or number in the present tense.
So kommer is used for all subjects:

jeg kommer = I come
du kommer = you come
han/hun kommer = he/she comes
vi kommer = we come
dere kommer = you (plural) come
de kommer = they come

This is why strømregningen og skatten kommer uses kommer — it doesn’t need a special plural form. The present tense is formed once and used with all subjects.

Is the word order inside the når-clause the same as in a normal main clause? Could I move samme uke around?

Inside the når-clause here, the order is:

strømregningen og skatten (subject)
kommer (verb)
samme uke (time expression)

That’s a normal S–V–(other information) order, and it’s fine.

You have some flexibility:

Når strømregningen og skatten kommer i samme uke, … (also very natural)
Når strømregningen og skatten samme uke kommer, … (unnatural / incorrect in modern Norwegian)

In subordinate clauses (like those starting with når, fordi, hvis), you generally:

Keep subject–verb order (no verb–subject inversion like in main clauses after a fronted element)
Put adverbials like samme uke either after the verb or at the end, depending on what sounds natural

So you can add i (i samme uke) or keep it as is, but you shouldn’t move samme uke in front of kommer here.