Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Musikk hjelper meg å roe ned om kvelden.

Musikk hjelper meg … = Music helps me … (music in general)
Not: En musikk – that would sound like “a music”, which is wrong in English too.
Musikken would mean “the music” (some specific music already known in the context).

So musikk without an article is the natural way to talk about music in general.

What does å do in å roe ned?

Å is the infinitive marker in Norwegian, like “to” before a verb in English.

roe = the verb “calm” / “soothe” in its infinitive form
å roe = “to calm”
å roe ned = “to calm down” / “to relax”

So hjelper meg å roe ned literally is “helps me to calm down.”

What exactly does roe ned mean, and why is ned there?

Å roe ned is a set expression meaning “to calm down, to relax.”

roe on its own means “to calm, to quiet,” often used transitively:
- Hun roet barnet. – She calmed the child.
roe ned adds ned (“down”) and is used much like English “calm down”:
- Jeg må roe ned litt. – I need to calm down a bit.

So ned works a bit like English “down” in “slow down”, “calm down” – it’s part of the verb phrase, not a literal direction.

Could I also say Musikk hjelper meg å roe meg ned? Do I need that extra meg?

You can say Musikk hjelper meg å roe meg ned, and it’s grammatically correct.

Musikk hjelper meg å roe ned.
- Very natural. The “me” is understood as the one calming down.
Musikk hjelper meg å roe meg ned.
- Also correct; it sounds a bit more explicit/emphatic: “helps me to calm myself down.”

In everyday speech, Norwegians often omit the second meg and just say å roe ned when it’s clear who is doing the calming down.

Why is it meg and not jeg after hjelper?

Because meg is the object form (“me”), and here you’re the person being helped.

jeg = “I” (subject form)
meg = “me” (object form)

The structure is:

Musikk (subject)
hjelper (verb)
meg (object: the one being helped)

So it matches English: “Music helps me”, not “Music helps I.”

Why is hjelper in the present tense when we’re talking about evenings in general?

Norwegian, like English, uses the simple present for general truths, habits, and routines.

Musikk hjelper meg å roe ned om kvelden.
= Music helps me calm down in the evenings (as a general habit).

You use hjelper (present) rather than something like a progressive form, because you’re describing a regular pattern, not a single ongoing event.

What does om mean in om kvelden, and why not på kvelden or i kvelden?

In om kvelden, om means something like “in / during / at (a certain part of the day)” when talking about repeated or typical times.

om morgenen – in the morning(s)
om dagen – in the daytime
om kvelden – in the evening(s)

på kvelden is also possible and common; often it’s very close in meaning to om kvelden.
i kveld, however, means “this evening / tonight” (a specific evening, usually today).

i kvelden is not used in this sense; you say i kveld for “this evening.”

Why is it kvelden (with -en) and not just kveld?

Kvelden is the definite singular form: “the evening.”

In time expressions, Norwegian often uses the definite singular to talk about something that happens regularly at that time of day:

Om morgenen drikker jeg kaffe. – In the morning I drink coffee.
Om natten sover jeg. – At night I sleep.
Om kvelden hører jeg på musikk. – In the evening I listen to music.

So om kvelden is best translated as “in the evenings” (habitually), even though it literally looks like “in the evening.”

Can I move om kvelden to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. That’s very natural, but Norwegian word order rules require the verb to stay in second position (the V2 rule):

Musikk hjelper meg å roe ned om kvelden.
Om kvelden hjelper musikk meg å roe ned.

Notice in the second version:

Om kvelden comes first (adverbial).
hjelper (the verb) still comes second.
Then comes musikk (the subject), followed by meg å roe ned.

Both sentences are correct; the second one just emphasizes “in the evening” a bit more.

Is Musikk hjelper å roe meg ned correct word order?

This version is not natural Norwegian.

When you say hjelpe noen å … (“help someone to …”), the person normally comes right after hjelper:

✅ Musikk hjelper meg å roe ned.
❌ Musikk hjelper å roe meg ned.

You can omit the person only when it’s impersonal or general:

Det hjelper å roe ned. – It helps to calm down.
(Here, there is no specific me/you/him; it’s generic.)

So keep meg right after hjelper when you mention it.

Can I say Musikk hjelper meg med å roe ned instead?

Yes, Musikk hjelper meg med å roe ned is also correct and natural.

Patterns:

hjelpe noen å gjøre noe
hjelpe noen med å gjøre noe

Often there’s little or no difference in meaning; med can slightly emphasize help with the process/task, but in this sentence they’re practically interchangeable:

Musikk hjelper meg å roe ned.
Musikk hjelper meg med å roe ned.

Both mean “Music helps me calm down.”

How is hjelper pronounced, especially the hj?

Hjelper is typically pronounced roughly like “yel-per” in English.

Details:

hj → the h is silent; hj is pronounced like English “y” in “yes”.
je → like “ye” in “yes” (often [jɛ] or [jæ]).
lper → l as in English, p as in English, and er is often a schwa-like sound [əɾ] at the end.

So in IPA, a common pronunciation is something like: [ˈjɛlpəɾ] (or [ˈjælpəɾ] depending on dialect).

Does om kvelden refer to one specific evening, or evenings in general?

In this sentence, om kvelden means “in the evenings (generally, habitually)”, not one specific evening.

Om kvelden – typically habitual: what usually happens when it’s evening.
I kveld – this evening / tonight (one specific evening, usually today).

So Musikk hjelper meg å roe ned om kvelden is about your regular routine in the evenings, not just one particular night.