Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Det er bråkete på kafeen, så hun kommer sannsynligvis til å jobbe videre hjemme. - It is noisy at the café, so she will probably continue working at home.

Det er bråkete på kafeen literally means “It is noisy at the café.”
Here det is a dummy subject, just like “it” in English in sentences such as “It is noisy in here.”

You can say Bråkete på kafeen in spoken language, but that sounds more like a fragment or an exclamation, similar to just saying “Noisy in the café!” rather than a complete sentence.

What exactly does bråkete mean, and how is it formed?

Bråkete is an adjective meaning “noisy” or “loud (because of noise/commotion)”.

The noun bråk = noise, racket, commotion.
Adding -ete turns it into an adjective: bråk → bråkete = noisy.

Some points:

It describes the situation or environment, not the volume setting of a device.
- Det er bråkete på kafeen. = There’s a lot of noise going on in the café.
Bråkete is indeclinable: it does not change for gender or plural:
- en bråkete kafé
- et bråkete sted
- bråkete kafeer

A near-synonym is støyete (from støy, also meaning “noise”). Both are common.

Why is it på kafeen and not i kafeen?

Both på kafeen and i kafeen are grammatically possible, but they have slightly different “default” uses:

på kafeen (literally “on/at the café”) is the normal choice when talking about being at that kind of place as a social/location word.
- på skolen (at school)
- på jobben (at work)
- på kino (at the cinema)
- på kafé / på kafeen (at the café)
i kafeen (in the café) focuses more on physically inside the interior of the building/room, e.g. contrasting inside vs. outside.

In this sentence, the speaker is just describing the general atmosphere there, so på kafeen is the natural preposition.

Why is it kafeen and not just kafé or en kafé?

Norwegian marks definiteness with an ending on the noun:

en kafé / en kafe = a café (indefinite, singular)
kafeen / kaféen = the café (definite, singular)

The sentence says på kafeen, meaning “at the café”, referring to a specific café both the speaker and listener presumably know about.

On spelling:

You will see both kafé and kafe in modern Norwegian.
With the accent: kafé → kaféen in the definite form.
Without accent: kafe → kafeen.

Both forms are accepted in practice; usage varies.

Why is there a comma before så, and what role does så play here?

In this sentence, så is a conjunction meaning “so / therefore”.

Det er bråkete på kafeen, så hun kommer …
= It is noisy at the café, so she is (therefore) going to …

Norwegian often places a comma between two main clauses joined by a conjunction like men, og, eller, for, så:

Det er bråkete på kafeen, så hun drar hjem.
Jeg er trøtt, men jeg må jobbe.

So the comma here separates two independent clauses.

Note: så can also be an adverb meaning “then / so / so much / so (that)” in other contexts, but here it’s a conjunction.

Why is the word order hun kommer sannsynligvis til å jobbe and not hun sannsynligvis kommer til å jobbe?

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb (here: kommer) must be in second position in the clause.

In hun kommer sannsynligvis til å jobbe:

First element: hun (subject)
Second element: kommer (finite verb – must be here)
Then: sannsynligvis til å jobbe videre hjemme (the rest)

Putting it as hun sannsynligvis kommer til å jobbe would move the finite verb away from second position, which sounds wrong in a neutral main clause.

You can move sannsynligvis to other positions, as long as the finite verb is second:

Hun kommer sannsynligvis til å jobbe videre hjemme.
Hun kommer til å sannsynligvis jobbe videre hjemme. (possible, but less natural)
Sannsynligvis kommer hun til å jobbe videre hjemme. (fronted adverb; more emphasis)

What does kommer til å mean here, and how is it different from skal or vil for the future?

Kommer til å + infinitive is one common way to talk about the future in Norwegian. It often suggests:

a likely development,
something that seems predictable based on the situation.

In this sentence:

hun kommer sannsynligvis til å jobbe videre hjemme
≈ she will probably (end up) continuing to work at home / she is probably going to continue working at home.

Comparison:

skal + infinitive
- Often more about intention, plan or arrangement.
- Hun skal jobbe videre hjemme. = She is going to work further at home (as a plan or decision).
vil + infinitive
- Can express willingness, desire, or sometimes a neutral future (especially in Bokmål influenced by English).
- Hun vil jobbe videre hjemme. = She wants to / will (depending on context) keep working at home.

Here, kommer til å matches the idea of a probable outcome: because it’s noisy, the likely result is that she’ll continue at home.

Why do we need both til and å in til å jobbe?

In the expression komme til å + infinitive, til is part of a fixed expression and å is simply the infinitive marker (like “to” in English).

komme til å jobbe
- komme til = end up / be going to (as a likely result)
- å jobbe = to work (infinitive)

Important distinctions:

til å here is not the same as the conjunction og (and).
- til å jobbe, not til og jobbe.
å is always used before most infinitive verbs (unless the verb is directly after a modal like kan, vil, skal, må, bør).

So you need both because:

til belongs with kommer,
å belongs with the verb jobbe.

What does sannsynligvis mean, and can I put it in a different place?

Sannsynligvis means “probably,” “most likely.”

Position in this sentence:

hun kommer sannsynligvis til å jobbe videre hjemme

This is the most natural, neutral position: after the finite verb (kommer).

Other possible placements:

Sannsynligvis kommer hun til å jobbe videre hjemme. (emphasis on “probably”)
Hun kommer til å sannsynligvis jobbe videre hjemme. (possible but less smooth; adverb splits the verb phrase)

What you must keep:

The finite verb must be in second position in the clause (V2 rule), so you can’t do:
- Hun sannsynligvis kommer til å jobbe … ✗ (ungrammatical in standard word order)

What does videre add to å jobbe? Could we leave it out?

Videre means “further,” “on,” “continuously from this point.”

å jobbe videre = to keep working / to continue working
å jobbe (without videre) = just to work, with no explicit “continue” nuance.

So:

… til å jobbe videre hjemme.
= she will probably continue working at home.
… til å jobbe hjemme.
= she will probably work at home (not necessarily emphasising continuation).

You can leave videre out without breaking the grammar, but you lose the “continue / carry on” meaning.

Why is it hjemme and not hjem?

Hjem and hjemme are related but used differently:

hjem = home (as a destination, movement towards)
- Hun går hjem. = She is going home.
- Jeg drar hjem i morgen. = I’m leaving for home tomorrow.
hjemme = at home (location, staying there)
- Hun jobber hjemme. = She works at home.
- Jeg er hjemme. = I am at home.

In å jobbe videre hjemme, the verb jobbe describes an activity at a place, so we use hjemme (“at home”), not hjem (which suggests movement towards home).

Does bråkete change form for gender or plural, like other adjectives?

No. Bråkete is one of those adjectives that are indeclinable in practice: it doesn’t change for gender, number, or definiteness.

You use bråkete in all cases:

en bråkete kafé
et bråkete sted
to bråkete kafeer
de bråkete kafeene

This is similar to adjectives like moderne (“modern”), which also usually don’t change form.

Could we say the same idea in a different but natural way in Norwegian?

Yes, you could phrase it slightly differently while keeping the meaning. For example:

Det er bråkete på kafeen, så hun vil sannsynligvis jobbe videre hjemme.
(using vil instead of kommer til å; somewhat closer to English “will”.)
Det er mye bråk på kafeen, så hun fortsetter sannsynligvis å jobbe hjemme.
(using mye bråk “a lot of noise” and fortsetter å jobbe “continues working”.)
Det er bråkete på kafeen, så hun jobber nok videre hjemme.
(nok here means “probably” in colloquial Norwegian.)

The original sentence is very natural and neutral, though, and a good model to imitate.