Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Jeg vet ikke akkurat hva som er pensum til eksamen. - I don't know exactly what the syllabus for the exam is.

English would usually use for, but Norwegian typically uses til to express that something is intended for or connected with a specific purpose or event.

For eksamen can exist, but it usually has a different nuance (more like “for the purpose of the exam / in the context of the exam”) and is not the standard collocation with pensum.

What nuance does akkurat add, and could I leave it out?

Akkurat here means exactly / precisely.

Jeg vet ikke hva som er pensum til eksamen.
= I don’t know what the syllabus is at all.
Jeg vet ikke akkurat hva som er pensum til eksamen.
= I don’t know exactly what the syllabus is (I may have a rough idea, but not in detail).

You can absolutely leave it out; the sentence is still correct. Akkurat just softens the statement and adds the idea of precision.

Why is it hva som er pensum and not something closer to English word order like hva pensum er?

Both patterns can exist in Norwegian, but they have different structures:

hva som er pensum
- hva = “what”
- som = a marker showing that the following noun (pensum) is the subject of er
- Literally: “what that is the syllabus”
hva pensum er
- hva = “what” (object)
- pensum = subject
- Literally: “what the syllabus is”

In practice:

Jeg vet ikke hva som er pensum.
is the most natural way to say this particular sentence.
Jeg vet ikke hva pensum er.
is grammatically possible, but it tends to be understood more like
“I don’t know what syllabus means / what a syllabus is,”
i.e., you don’t know the concept of pensum, not the list of items.

So hva som er pensum is idiomatic when you mean “which things count as part of the syllabus.”

What exactly is the function of som in hva som er pensum? Can I leave it out?

Here, som is a kind of relative/subordinating word that marks the subject of the clause.

hva som er pensum – literally: “what that is the syllabus” → “what is the syllabus”

Without som, you’d get hva er pensum, which becomes a direct question with verb-second word order, not an embedded clause.

In embedded clauses after hva, hvem, hvilken, etc., you very often use som when the “unknown thing” is the subject:

Jeg vet ikke hva som skjedde. – I don’t know what happened.
Kan du si meg hvem som kommer? – Can you tell me who is coming?

So in hva som er pensum, som is not optional; you need it in this structure.

Why is the word order hva som er pensum and not hva som pensum er?

Norwegian embedded clauses (like hva som er pensum) generally use statement word order: subject before verb.

Main question: Hva er pensum? (verb in second position)
Embedded: … hva som er pensum. (subject before verb)

In hva som er pensum, the subject of er is pensum (marked by som), so the order is:

hva – “what” (the unknown set of things)
som – marks the following as subject
er – verb
pensum – subject complement (predicate)

Hva som pensum er would sound wrong/ungrammatical in standard Norwegian.

Why do we use vet and not kjenner in Jeg vet ikke?

Norwegian distinguishes between two main verbs for “to know”:

å vite – to know a fact or piece of information
- Jeg vet ikke hva som er pensum. – I don’t know what the syllabus is.
å kjenne – to be familiar with or acquainted with (people, places, works)
- Jeg kjenner ham. – I know him.
- Jeg kjenner byen godt. – I know the city well.

Here, you are talking about factual information (what is on the syllabus), so you must use vite: Jeg vet ikke …, not Jeg kjenner ikke ….

Why is the negation placed as Jeg vet ikke akkurat … and not Jeg ikke vet …?

In a normal main clause with a simple verb, Norwegian word order is:

Subject – Verb – (Adverb like “ikke”) – …

So:

Jeg vet ikke … – correct
Jeg ikke vet … – wrong in this context

The sequence ikke akkurat functions together like “not exactly”:

Jeg vet ikke akkurat hva som er pensum.
literally: “I know not exactly what is the syllabus.”

So ikke must come right after the verb (vet), and akkurat follows it.

Is there a difference between akkurat and nøyaktig here?

Both mean roughly exactly / precisely, but there is a slight nuance:

akkurat – very common in everyday speech; slightly more colloquial and flexible.
- Jeg vet ikke akkurat hva som er pensum.
nøyaktig – a bit more formal or “careful”; often used about measurements, details, correctness.
- Jeg vet ikke nøyaktig hva som er pensum.

In this sentence, you can safely use either. Akkurat is probably more frequent in casual spoken Norwegian.

Why is it til eksamen and not til eksamenen with the definite article?

Both forms are possible, but they have different feels:

til eksamen – often used when the exam is understood from context (your course’s exam, the final exam, etc.). It can sound a bit more general/institutional.
til eksamenen – points more clearly to one specific exam that has already been mentioned or is very clearly defined.

Examples:

Jeg gruer meg til eksamen. – I’m dreading the (coming) exam.
Pensum til eksamenen i matematikk er veldig stort. – The syllabus for the math exam is very big.

In your sentence, til eksamen is natural because “the exam” is usually clear from context (e.g., the course you’re in).

Is this sentence formal or informal? How else could I say the same thing?

The sentence is neutral and works in both spoken and written Norwegian. It’s not slangy, but also not stiff.

A few alternative ways to express the same idea:

Jeg er ikke helt sikker på hva som er pensum til eksamen.
– I’m not completely sure what the syllabus is for the exam.
Jeg vet ikke helt hva som er pensum til eksamen.
– I don’t really / fully know what the syllabus is for the exam.
Jeg er usikker på hva som er pensum til eksamen.
– I’m unsure what the syllabus is for the exam.

All of these are perfectly natural.

How do you pronounce eksamen and pensum?

Approximate standard Eastern Norwegian pronunciation (IPA):

eksamen → /ɛkˈsɑːmən/
- ek like “eck”
- sa like “sah” (long a sound)
- men like “men” but with a reduced final vowel
pensum → /ˈpɛnsʉm/
- pen like English “pen”
- sum with u as in French tu or German ü (fronted u sound), not like English “sum”

Stress is on the first syllable in pensum and on the second syllable in eksamen.