Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Han tar på seg joggesko og gjør lett styrketrening i stuen nesten daglig. - He puts on sneakers and does light strength training in the living room almost daily.

Han tar på seg joggesko = He puts on running shoes (on himself).
Han tar joggesko would literally mean he takes running shoes, which sounds like he’s picking them up, not putting them on.

So when you mean put on (an item of clothing), you normally use:

å ta på seg + klær/sko
- Jeg tar på meg jakken. – I put on my jacket.
- Hun tar på seg støvler. – She puts on boots.

Without på and seg, the meaning changes.

What is the role of seg in tar på seg, and how does it change with different subjects?

Seg is a reflexive pronoun. It shows that the action is done to the same person as the subject.

Tar på seg literally: takes on himself/herself → puts on (something) on oneself.

It changes with the subject like this:

Jeg tar på meg joggesko. – I put on running shoes.
Du tar på deg joggesko. – You put on running shoes.
Han/hun tar på seg joggesko. – He/she puts on running shoes.
Vi tar på oss joggesko. – We put on running shoes.
Dere tar på dere joggesko. – You (pl.) put on running shoes.
De tar på seg joggesko. – They put on running shoes.

So the pattern is ta på + reflexive pronoun, and the reflexive pronoun agrees with the subject.

Why is there no article before joggesko? Why not joggeskoene or noen joggesko?

With clothes and shoes in general statements, Norwegian often uses no article in the plural.

Han tar på seg joggesko.
Literally: He puts on running shoes. (some, in general)

You would use:

joggesko (no article) for indefinite plural in a generic sense.
joggeskoene for the running shoes (specific pair).
- Han tar på seg joggeskoene. – He puts on the running shoes (we know which ones).
noen joggesko – some running shoes, if you really want to stress “some, not all” or be extra explicit.

In many everyday sentences about getting dressed, Norwegians simply say:

Han tar på seg sko.
Hun tar på seg bukser.

No article is normal and sounds natural.

Is joggesko singular or plural? It doesn’t change form—how do I know?

Joggesko is treated as plural only in everyday use, just like sko (shoes). There is no separate singular form that means “one joggesko”.

Think of it like pants or scissors in English – grammatically plural.

Joggesko = running shoes (plural, indefinite)
Joggeskoene = the running shoes (plural, definite)

You wouldn’t normally say a singular en joggesko unless you very literally mean exactly one shoe (e.g. “I only found one running shoe”). For normal use, joggesko is plural.

Why do we use gjør with lett styrketrening? Could I say han trener styrke instead?

Yes, you have several options, and they’re all natural:

Han gjør lett styrketrening.
Han trener styrke.
Han styrketrener.

The patterns are:

gjøre + trening-type (noun)
- gjøre styrketrening – do strength training
- gjøre kondisjonstrening – do cardio training
trene + object
- trene styrke – train strength
- trene kondisjon – train cardio/fitness
Compound verbs:
- styrketrener – does strength training
- kondisjonstrener – does cardio training (less common)

Using gjør with a training noun (styrketrening) is very common and idiomatic. Han gjør lett styrketrening sounds perfectly natural.

What exactly does lett styrketrening mean, and why is lett placed before styrketrening?

Styrketrening is a compound noun:

styrke (strength) + trening (training) → styrketrening (strength training).

Lett is an adjective meaning light or easy in this context (not heavy, not intense).

Word order:

In Norwegian, descriptive adjectives normally come before the noun:
- lett styrketrening – light strength training
- hard styrketrening – hard/intense strength training

So:

Han gjør lett styrketrening = He does light/easy strength training.

If you want to stress it even more, you could also say:

Han gjør litt lett styrketrening. – He does a bit of light strength training.

What is the difference between i stuen and i stua? Which one is correct?

Both are correct; they are just different forms of the definite of stue (living room).

en stue – a living room (indefinite singular)
stuen – the living room (standard Bokmål form)
stua – the living room (more colloquial / spoken form, also allowed in Bokmål)

So:

i stuen – in the living room (more formal/standard)
i stua – in the living room (more informal/everyday speech)

In written standard Norwegian you’ll often see i stuen, but i stua is very common in speech and in more informal texts.

Why is it i stuen and not i en stue in this sentence?

I stuen uses the definite form: the living room.

The sentence is probably talking about his or their regular living room in the home, which is specific and known from context. In Norwegian, you normally use the definite form for rooms in someone’s home:

på kjøkkenet – in the kitchen
i stuen/stua – in the living room
på badet – in the bathroom

So:

Han gjør lett styrketrening i stuen.
→ He does light strength training in the living room (the one at home).

I en stue would mean in a living room (some living room, not specific), which sounds less natural in this kind of routine description.

How does nesten daglig work, and how is it different from nesten hver dag or just daglig?

daglig = daily
nesten = almost

So:

daglig – daily
nesten daglig – almost daily
nesten hver dag – almost every day

Nesten daglig and nesten hver dag are very similar in meaning; both mean roughly “on most days” or “almost every day”.
Nesten hver dag is slightly more concrete (you think in terms of individual days).

Just daglig (without nesten) would mean every day, more strictly.

In the sentence:

… i stuen nesten daglig. – … in the living room almost daily.

Nesten must come directly before daglig, because it modifies that word.

Is the word order i stuen nesten daglig fixed, or could I move these adverbials around?

Several word orders are possible, but some are more natural.

Original:

Han tar på seg joggesko og gjør lett styrketrening i stuen nesten daglig.

This order is very typical:

Verb + object: gjør lett styrketrening
Place: i stuen
Time/frequency: nesten daglig

You could also say:

Han tar på seg joggesko og gjør lett styrketrening nesten daglig i stuen.

That’s still acceptable, just a slight change in rhythm and focus.

But something like:

… og gjør i stuen lett styrketrening nesten daglig.

is less natural, because it splits gjør from its object lett styrketrening. Usually you want:

verb + (object) + (place) + (time/frequency).

So keep gjør lett styrketrening together, then add i stuen, then nesten daglig.

Why is the present tense (tar, gjør) used here to talk about a habitual action?

Norwegian uses the simple present tense to describe:

actions happening right now, and
actions that happen regularly / habitually.

So:

Han tar på seg joggesko nå. – He is putting on running shoes now.
Han tar på seg joggesko nesten daglig. – He puts on running shoes almost daily.

There is no separate present continuous form like English “is doing”. Context tells you whether it’s right now or as a habit.

In this sentence, nesten daglig (almost daily) clearly shows it’s a habitual routine.

We only say seg once: Han tar på seg joggesko og gjør lett styrketrening …. Is that okay, or do we need another seg?

It’s correct as written.

The reflexive pronoun seg belongs to the first verb phrase tar på seg. The second verb gjør does not need seg, because gjøre styrketrening is not a reflexive verb; it just takes a normal object (styrketrening).

You cannot write:

Han tar på joggesko … (wrong, missing seg)
but you can write:
- Han tar på seg joggesko og gjør lett styrketrening …

If you repeated seg after gjør, it would be ungrammatical:

✗ Han … og gjør seg lett styrketrening. (wrong)

So: seg is only needed with verbs that are reflexive, like ta på seg.