Barna vil bare leke.

The children just want to play.

Breakdown of Barna vil bare leke.

• barnet: the child
• leke: to play
• ville: want
• bare: just

Questions & Answers about Barna vil bare leke.

Why is it barna and not barn? What does barna mean exactly?

Barn means child / children in an indefinite sense:

• et barn – a child
• barn – children (no article, general)

Barna is the definite plural:

• barna – the children / the kids

So Barna vil bare leke literally starts with “The children …” (or more naturally: “The kids …”).

Why is there no separate word for “the” in barna?

Norwegian usually attaches “the” to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front:

• barn – child / children
• barnet – the child
• barna – the children

So there’s no extra the in front; it’s already included in -et or -a at the end of the noun.
You only add a separate word like de when you mean those: de barna = those children.

Does vil mean “will” (future) or “want to” here?

In this sentence, vil means “want to”.

• Barna vil bare leke.
  → The children just want to play.

Norwegian vil can mean both:

• volition / desire:
  
  • Jeg vil spise. – I want to eat.
• future (less common, mostly with context):
  
  • Det vil ta tid. – It will take time.

For everyday future meaning, Norwegian often uses skal or just the present tense with a time expression, not vil.

Why is it vil leke and not vil å leke? Where is “to”?

After modal verbs like vil, skal, kan, må, bør, Norwegian uses the bare infinitive (no å):

• vil leke – want to play
• kan snakke – can speak
• må gå – must go

So å (the infinitive marker “to”) is dropped after these modal verbs.
You do use å with other verbs that take another verb:

• liker å leke – like to play
• prøver å leke – try to play

What are the different meanings of bare? Is it like “bare” in English (naked)?

In this sentence, bare means only / just / simply:

• Barna vil bare leke.
  → The children just / only want to play.

Common meanings of bare:

1. only / just / merely (most common in speech):

   • Jeg har bare én bror. – I only have one brother.
   • Jeg bare tuller. – I’m just kidding.

2. naked / bare (in other contexts):

   • bar overkropp – bare upper body
   • bare føtter – bare feet

The meaning is usually clear from context.

Could I say “Barna bare vil leke” instead? Is the word order flexible?

You can say Barna bare vil leke, but:

• Barna vil bare leke is the most neutral / standard order.
• Barna bare vil leke puts a bit more emphasis on “bare”, almost like stressing “just” in English:
  
  • The kids *just want to play (and nothing else / don’t bother them).*

General rule: the normal position for bare (as an adverb) is after the first verb in the sentence:

• Barna vil bare leke.
  Subject – Verb – bare – Verb (infinitive)

How would I say “The children only wanted to play” (past tense)?

You put vil into the past tense: ville.

• Barna ville bare leke.
  → The children only wanted to play.

So:

• vil – want (present)
• ville – wanted / would (past)

How is Barna vil bare leke pronounced?

Approximate pronunciation (standard Eastern Norwegian):

• Barna – BAHR-nah
  
  • r+n fuse into a single sound; you’ll hear something like “barn-ah”
• vil – vil (like English “vil” with a short i, close to “vill”)
• bare – BAH-reh (two clear syllables)
• leke – LEH-keh, with a long e in the first syllable

So the whole sentence: BAHR-nah vil BAH-reh LEH-keh.
Stress is mainly on BAR-na, BA-re, LE-ke (first syllable of each word).

Is barna formal or informal? How would you say “kids” more casually?

Barna is neutral and works in all contexts (spoken and written).

A more casual / colloquial word for kids is ungene:

• Ungene vil bare leke. – The kids just want to play.

Forms for unge (kid, young person):

• en unge – a kid
• ungen – the kid
• unger – kids
• ungene – the kids

So Barna vil bare leke = neutral; Ungene vil bare leke = more informal / spoken.