Barna trives i hagen.

The children enjoy being in the garden.

Breakdown of Barna trives i hagen.

• barnet: the child
• i: in
• hagen: the garden
• trives: to enjoy

Questions & Answers about Barna trives i hagen.

What exactly does trives mean, and how is it different from just like?

Trives is usually translated as to thrive, to feel good, or to be happy/comfortable (somewhere or in a situation).

• Barna trives i hagen.
  = The children feel good / are happy in the garden. They enjoy being there.

It is not normally used about liking a specific object:

• You wouldn’t say Jeg trives pizza.
  You’d say Jeg liker pizza (I like pizza).

Typical uses of trives:

• Jeg trives på jobben. – I’m happy at my job.
• Hun trives i Norge. – She is thriving / feels at home in Norway.

So trives is more about overall well‑being in a place or situation, not about liking a thing.

Why does trives end in -s? Is it a reflexive verb, and why is there no seg?

Verbs ending in -s like trives are called deponent verbs in Norwegian. They look reflexive (because of the -s) but do not take a reflexive pronoun (seg).

So:

• å trives – to thrive / to feel good
  You say Barna trives, Jeg trives, Vi trives – no seg.

Compare with a truly reflexive verb:

• å kle på seg – to get dressed
  Barna kler på seg. – The children are getting dressed.

With trives, the -s is just part of the verb itself, not a separate reflexive ending that needs a pronoun. You never say Barna triver seg or Barna trives seg – both are wrong.

What is the infinitive and the other forms of trives?

Infinitive: å trives

Most common forms:

• Present: trives
  Barna trives i hagen. – The children are happy in the garden.
• Past: trivdes or trivdes/trivdest (you’ll mostly see trivdes)
  Barna trivdes i hagen. – The children enjoyed being in the garden.
• Present perfect: har trivdes
  Barna har trivdes i hagen. – The children have felt good in the garden.
• Past perfect: hadde trivdes
  Barna hadde trivdes i hagen. – The children had been happy in the garden.

In everyday speech and writing, trivdes and har trivdes are by far the most typical past and perfect forms you will meet.

Why is it barna and not barn or something like barnene?

Barn is a special noun in Norwegian:

• Indefinite singular: et barn – a child
• Definite singular: barnet – the child
• Indefinite plural: barn – children
• Definite plural: barna – the children

There is no form barnene in standard Bokmål.

So in the sentence:

• Barna trives i hagen.
  Barna = the children (definite plural).

So is barn singular or plural?

Both, depending on context:

• Singular:
  et barn – a child
  barnet – the child

• Plural:
  barn – children
  barna – the children

This is similar to English words that don’t change in the plural, like sheep:

• one sheep / many sheep

In Norwegian:

• ett barn / mange barn

Why is it i hagen and not i hage or i hager?

Hage behaves like a regular masculine noun:

• Indefinite singular: en hage – a garden
• Definite singular: hagen – the garden
• Indefinite plural: hager – gardens
• Definite plural: hagene – the gardens

In Barna trives i hagen, the speaker is talking about a specific garden (probably one both speaker and listener know), so the definite form is used:

• i hagen = in the garden (that particular one)

i hage would sound incomplete here. You might see i hage inside set phrases, but for normal, concrete meaning it’s i hagen when you mean the garden.

What gender is hage, and how is the definite form built?

Hage is a masculine noun in Bokmål.

Pattern:

• Masculine indefinite: en hage – a garden
• Masculine definite: hagen – the garden

So the -en ending on hagen tells you it is definite singular:

• Barna trives i hage. – wrong in normal usage
• Barna trives i hagen. – correct: The children are happy in the garden.

Could I say I hagen trives barna instead? Is that correct, and what changes?

Yes, I hagen trives barna is grammatically correct.

Norwegian has a verb-second (V2) rule: in a main clause, the finite verb (here trives) must be in the second position.

• Barna trives i hagen.
  Order: Subject (Barna) – Verb (trives) – Adverbial (i hagen)

• I hagen trives barna.
  Order: Adverbial (I hagen) – Verb (trives) – Subject (barna)

Both mean the same, but the emphasis is different:

• Barna trives i hagen. – neutral, focus on the children.
• I hagen trives barna. – highlights the place; something like: It’s in the garden that the children thrive (maybe not elsewhere).

How would I add a time expression like “today”? Where does i dag go?

A natural version is:

• Barna trives i hagen i dag. – The children are happy in the garden today.

Typical order in a neutral sentence:

1. Subject: Barna
2. Verb: trives
3. Place: i hagen
4. Time: i dag

Other possibilities are also grammatical, but may sound marked or emphasize different parts:

• I dag trives barna i hagen. – Emphasis on today.

Why is it i hagen and not på hagen? When do I use i vs på?

With hage (garden), the normal preposition for being inside/within the garden is i:

• i hagen – in the garden

På hagen is not used in standard Norwegian for physical location in a normal garden. As a rough rule of thumb:

• i is often used for closed or delimited spaces: i huset (in the house), i bilen (in the car), i hagen.
• på is often used for surfaces or certain standard locations: på bordet (on the table), på skolen (at school), på jobb (at work).

So, for this sentence, i hagen is the idiomatic and correct choice.

How do you pronounce barna, trives, and hagen?

Approximate, using English sounds:

• barna: roughly BAHR-na

  • bar: like English bar, but the r is tapped or rolled
  • na: short na as in nacho (first syllable), but shorter

• trives: roughly TREE-ves

  • tri: like English tree
  • ves: like vess (short e, as in bed)

• hagen: roughly HAH-gen

  • ha: like ha in haha
  • gen: like gen in gentle, but with a hard g (as in get) and a short e

Exact pronunciation varies slightly by dialect, but this will be understandable everywhere.

Can trives be used about animals or plants, or only about people?

Trives is most commonly used about people, but it can also be used about animals, and sometimes metaphorically about plants or other things:

• Katten trives i huset. – The cat is happy in the house.
• Plantene trives i sola. – The plants thrive in the sun.

For people, it’s strongly about emotional and social well‑being. For animals and plants, it leans more toward thriving / doing well.

How do I make the sentence negative? Where do I put ikke?

Negation:

• Barna trives ikke i hagen. – The children do not thrive / are not happy in the garden.

Order:

1. Subject: Barna
2. Verb: trives
3. Negation: ikke
4. Place: i hagen

If you front the place expression, V2 still applies:

• I hagen trives barna ikke. – Also correct, but more marked; emphasis on i hagen.