Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Hun slår av alle varsler som distraherer henne fra pensum. - She turns off all notifications that distract her from the syllabus.

Together, slå av is understood idiomatically as turn off. It’s a very common way to talk about turning off things like lights, TV, notifications, etc.:

slå av lyset – turn off the light
slå av mobilen – turn off the phone

So yes, it’s a fairly fixed and very natural expression in this context.

Could I say Hun skrur av alle varsler instead of Hun slår av alle varsler?

Yes, you can. Both are natural, but there is a slight nuance:

slå av – very common and neutral for turning something off (especially with a button or simple action).
skru av – literally “screw off”; often used for things you physically “twist” off (like turning a knob), but by extension also for devices and functions.

In everyday speech, slå av and skru av are both widely used for phones, notifications, etc. In this sentence, slår av is perfectly idiomatic; skrur av would also be fine.

Why is it slår av and not avslår?

Avslå is a different verb. It usually means “to decline / refuse / reject”, for example:

å avslå et tilbud – to decline an offer

So:

Hun slår av alle varsler – She turns off all notifications.
Hun avslår alle tilbud – She rejects all offers.

Even though both contain slå and av, they are not interchangeable.

Can the word order be Hun av slår alle varsler?

No. The particle av must come after the verb here:

Correct: Hun slår av alle varsler.
Incorrect: Hun av slår alle varsler.

In Norwegian particle verbs, the typical order in main clauses is:

subject + verb + particle + rest

e.g. Hun slår av telefonen.

In the infinitive or past participle you still keep them together:

å slå av – to turn off
hun har slått av – she has turned off

But you never put av in front of slår in this structure.

Why is it alle varsler and not alle varslene?

Both forms are grammatically possible, but they mean slightly different things:

alle varsler – all notifications (notifications in general, not specifically defined or known which ones)
alle varslene – all the notifications (a specific set that both speaker and listener know about)

In your sentence, alle varsler suggests she turns off any / all kinds of notifications that might distract her, not just a particular list that’s already been identified. That’s why the indefinite plural varsler fits well here.

Why is the relative pronoun som used here, and not der?

In Bokmål, som is the normal relative pronoun meaning “that / which / who”. It’s used both for subjects and objects in relative clauses:

varsler som distraherer henne – notifications that distract her

Der is generally not used as a relative pronoun in standard Bokmål the way German der or some dialectal Norwegian do. Der is mostly an adverb meaning there.

So here you must use som, not der.

Why is it som distraherer henne and not som distraherer hun?

Because henne is the object form of hun.

hun – subject form (she)
henne – object form (her)

In the relative clause:

Subject: som (referring back to varsler)
Object: henne (the person being distracted)

So the structure is:

[varsler] som (subj) distraherer (verb) henne (obj) …

Therefore henne is correct; hun would be ungrammatical here.

Why don’t we use the reflexive seg instead of henne?

Reflexive pronouns (seg) are used when the subject and the object are the same within the same clause.

Here, in the relative clause som distraherer henne fra pensum:

Subject: som ( = varsler)
Object: henne ( = hun in the main clause)

The subject of this clause is the notifications, not she. So the notifications are distracting her, not distracting themselves.

Reflexive seg would be used in something like:

Hun distraherer seg fra pensum. – She distracts herself from the syllabus.

But in your sentence, the agent is varsler, so we use henne, not seg.

Why is distraherer in the simple present, not something like “are distracting”?

Norwegian does not have a separate -ing form like English “is distracting”. The simple present (distraherer) usually covers:

ongoing actions
habitual actions
general truths

So:

varsler som distraherer henne
= notifications that distract her / that are distracting her / that tend to distract her

English uses different verb forms to show these nuances; Norwegian generally uses the same present form and lets context decide the exact aspect.

Why is it fra pensum and not av pensum?

The preposition fra expresses movement or separation away from something. Distrahere fra noe = distract from something.

distraherer henne fra pensum
= distracts her from the syllabus / study material

Av often means by (agent), of, or indicates cause, but it’s not used with distrahere in this sense:

distrahere av pensum – unidiomatic / wrong here

So the natural collocation is distrahere noen fra noe, with fra.

What exactly does pensum mean here, and can I say pensumet?

Pensum means the required reading / syllabus / course material for a course or exam. It’s often used as an uncountable mass noun:

Jeg har mye pensum. – I have a lot of syllabus material.

You can use the definite form pensumet when you mean a specific, defined syllabus:

Pensumet i dette faget er veldig tungt. – The syllabus in this subject is very heavy.

In your sentence, bare pensum is fine and sounds natural: it means the syllabus/study material she should focus on, in general.

Could I move fra pensum earlier, like … som fra pensum distraherer henne?

No, that would sound unnatural in modern Norwegian. The normal word order in the clause is:

som (subject) + distraherer (verb) + henne (object) + fra pensum (prepositional phrase)

So:

varsler som distraherer henne fra pensum – natural
varsler som fra pensum distraherer henne – very odd / archaic-sounding

Prepositional phrases like fra pensum usually come after the object in this kind of clause.

Can I drop som like in English “notifications distracting her from the syllabus”?

No, you cannot drop som in Norwegian relative clauses the way you often drop that in English.

English:

notifications (that) distract her from the syllabus

Norwegian must keep som:

varsler som distraherer henne fra pensum

Leaving it out:

✗ varsler distraherer henne fra pensum (this changes the structure and meaning)
✗ varsler distraherer henne fra pensum would mean “notifications distract her from the syllabus” (a whole new main clause), not “notifications that distract her…”

So som is obligatory here.

Is there a difference between distraherer and forstyrrer in this sentence?

Both can work, but with a nuance:

distraherer – distract: pull her attention away from what she should focus on.
forstyrrer – disturb / interrupt / bother: interfere with her, often more generally.

So:

varsler som distraherer henne fra pensum – notifications that draw her attention away from the syllabus.
varsler som forstyrrer henne når hun leser pensum – notifications that disturb her when she’s reading the syllabus.

In your exact phrase with fra pensum, distraherer is more natural, because distrahere fra is a direct match for distract from.