Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Min onkel besøker oss, og fetteren og kusinen min leker med barna. - My uncle visits us, and my male cousin and female cousin play with the children.

Preposed possessive (before the noun, noun is indefinite):
- min onkel = my uncle
- min fetter, min kusine
Postposed possessive (after the noun, noun is definite):
- onkelen min = my uncle
- fetteren min, kusinen min

So:

Min onkel = literally my uncle (indefinite form onkel)
kusinen min = literally the cousin my (definite form kusinen
- min)

Both ways mean my X, but:

Preposed (min onkel) is more neutral/formal and common in writing.
Postposed (onkelen min) is often more colloquial and can feel a bit more personal or specific.

The sentence just happens to use both patterns in one line, which is grammatically allowed.

Does min in fetteren og kusinen min refer to both cousins, or only to kusinen?

Grammatically, min is attached only to the last noun:

fetteren og kusinen min = the (male) cousin and my (female) cousin.

So strictly speaking, only kusinen is marked as my.

In real-life use, speakers might still understand it as my cousin (m) and my cousin (f) from context, but if you want to be clear that both are “my”, you normally say:

fetteren min og kusinen min
or
min fetter og min kusine

So for learners, it’s safer to repeat the possessive with each noun.

Why are fetteren, kusinen, and barna in their definite forms?

Norwegian usually marks definiteness with a suffix instead of a separate word like English the.

Indefinite vs definite:

en fetter – fetteren
en kusine – kusinen (or kusina in some styles)
et barn – barn (plural) – barna (definite plural)

In the sentence:

fetteren = the (male) cousin
kusinen = the (female) cousin
barna = the children

English uses the separate article the, but Norwegian usually attaches it as -en / -a / -et / -ene / -a etc.

Why is it oss and not vi in Min onkel besøker oss?

Norwegian distinguishes between subject and object forms of pronouns, just like English (we vs us).

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

Subject:

Vi besøker onkelen min. = We are visiting my uncle.

Object:

Min onkel besøker oss. = My uncle is visiting us.

Since oss is the object of besøker, you must use oss, not vi.

Why is it besøker oss and not something like besøker til oss?

The verb å besøke (to visit) is transitive in Norwegian, just like English to visit:

å besøke noen = to visit someone

You do not add a preposition like til here.

Correct:

Onkelen min besøker oss. = My uncle is visiting us.

Incorrect:

✗ Onkelen min besøker til oss.

If you want to use a prepositional expression, you change the verb:

Onkelen min kommer på besøk til oss. = My uncle is coming to visit us.

What is the difference between leker and spiller? Why is it leker med barna here?

Norwegian uses two common verbs that can both translate as play:

å leke
- used for children playing in general, with toys, role play, running around, etc.
- Barna leker i hagen. = The children are playing in the garden.
å spille
- used for playing games, sports, and instruments
- spille fotball = play football
- spille gitar = play guitar
- spille sjakk = play chess

In the sentence, the cousins are simply playing with the children in a general sense, so leker med barna is natural. If they were playing football with the children, you’d say:

… og fetteren og kusinen min spiller fotball med barna.

Why is there a comma before og: Min onkel besøker oss, og fetteren og kusinen min leker med barna?

Norwegian comma rules are stricter than English. You normally must put a comma between two independent clauses, even when they are joined by og, men, eller etc.

Here we have two full clauses with their own subjects and verbs:

Min onkel besøker oss
fetteren og kusinen min leker med barna

Therefore, you write:

Min onkel besøker oss, og fetteren og kusinen min leker med barna.

In English, the comma before and is often optional; in Norwegian this comma is standard.

Why is it barna and not something like barnene?

Barn (child) is a bit irregular:

Singular: et barn = a child
Plural indefinite: barn = children
Plural definite: barna = the children

There is no form barnene in standard Norwegian. So:

Barna leker. = The children are playing.
Jeg liker barna. = I like the children.

How do min, mi, mitt, mine work, and why do we see min here?

The possessive “my” changes form to agree with the gender and number of the noun:

min – for masculine nouns, and also acceptable for feminine in Bokmål
- min onkel (masc.)
- min fetter (masc.)
- min kusine (fem., allowed in Bokmål)
mi – optional feminine form (Bokmål, more common in Nynorsk and speech)
- mi kusine
- kusina mi
mitt – for neuter nouns
- mitt barn = my child
mine – for plurals
- mine barn = my children
- mine fettere = my (male) cousins

In Min onkel and kusinen min, the nouns are masculine (onkel) and feminine (kusine). Standard Bokmål very often just uses min for both masculine and feminine, which is what you see here.

Are fetter and kusine gender-specific words for “cousin”? Is there a gender-neutral word?

Yes, they are gender-specific:

fetter = male cousin
kusine = female cousin

If you don’t want to specify gender, you can say:

søskenbarn = cousin (literally sibling-child)

For example:

søskenbarna mine leker med barna. = My cousins are playing with the children.

Could you also say Onkelen min besøker oss instead of Min onkel besøker oss? Is there a difference?

Yes, both are grammatically correct and both mean My uncle is visiting us:

Min onkel besøker oss.
Onkelen min besøker oss.

Subtle differences:

Min onkel (preposed possessive, indefinite noun)
- common in neutral/written style
- often a bit more “formal-standard”
Onkelen min (postposed possessive, definite noun)
- very common in speech
- can sound a bit more personal/colloquial

In everyday spoken Norwegian, Onkelen min besøker oss would perhaps be more typical, but both are fine.

Could I also say min fetter og kusine leker med barna without den or min again?

You can say:

Min fetter og kusine leker med barna.

This would usually be understood as my (male) cousin and (my) female cousin are playing with the children. In this structure, min tends to be interpreted as applying to the whole phrase.

However, for learners, the clearest and least ambiguous form is:

Min fetter og min kusine leker med barna.
or
Fetteren min og kusinen min leker med barna.

These versions make it explicit that both are my cousins.