Jeg håper at tannbehandlingen ikke blir for dyr.

I hope that the dental treatment will not be too expensive.

Breakdown of Jeg håper at tannbehandlingen ikke blir for dyr.

• jeg: I
• håpe: to hope
• at: that
• bli: to become

Questions & Answers about Jeg håper at tannbehandlingen ikke blir for dyr.

Why is at used after håper? Is it like “that” in English?

Yes. at is a subordinating conjunction that works like English “that”:

• Jeg håper at tannbehandlingen ikke blir for dyr.
  = I hope *that the dental treatment doesn’t become / won’t be too expensive.*

Just like in English, “that” is often optional:

• Jeg håper tannbehandlingen ikke blir for dyr.
  (perfectly natural, especially in speech)

So:

• håper at … = hope that …
• at can be dropped in many everyday sentences, but keeping it is never wrong.

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Why is the word order “tannbehandlingen ikke blir” and not “tannbehandlingen blir ikke”?