Barna ler høyt i stuen.

The children laugh loudly in the living room.

Breakdown of Barna ler høyt i stuen.

• barnet: the child
• i: in
• le: to laugh
• stuen: the living room
• høyt: out loud

Questions & Answers about Barna ler høyt i stuen.

Why is it Barna and not the children with a separate word for the?

Norwegian usually attaches “the” to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.

• barn = child / children (irregular plural; barn is both singular and plural in the base form)
• barna = the children (definite plural)

So Barna ler… literally looks like “Children-the laugh…”, but in natural English it is “The children are laughing…”

You do not add another article in front (no de barna in this sentence).

Why is it just ler and not er ler to say “are laughing”?

Norwegian doesn’t use a separate “to be” verb to form the present continuous the way English does.

• ler = laugh / is laughing / are laughing (present tense)
• jeg ler = I laugh / I am laughing
• barna ler = the children laugh / the children are laughing

There is no form like er ler; that would be incorrect. A single present-tense verb in Norwegian covers both simple present and present continuous meanings in English, and context decides which English version you use.

Why is it høyt and not høy? What’s the difference?

Høy is the adjective (“high, tall, loud”), while høyt here is the corresponding adverb (“loudly”).

• Adjective (describing a noun):
  
  • en høy lyd = a loud sound
  • en høy bygning = a tall building
• Adverb (describing a verb, an action):
  
  • Barna ler høyt = The children are laughing loudly
  • Han snakker høyt = He speaks loudly

Norwegian often forms adverbs by adding -t to the adjective’s neuter form:

• høy (m/f) → høyt (neuter/adverb)
  That’s why you get høyt with ler.

Could I change the word order and say Barna ler i stuen høyt?

That would sound odd or wrong in normal Norwegian.

Neutral, natural order is:

1. Subject: Barna
2. Verb: ler
3. Manner adverb: høyt (how they laugh)
4. Place phrase: i stuen (where they laugh)

So:

• Barna ler høyt i stuen. ✅ (natural)

Other possibilities:

• I stuen ler barna høyt. ✅ (emphasis on in the living room, often used in contexts like contrast or storytelling)
• Barna ler i stuen. ✅ (if you just skip “loudly”)

But:

• Barna ler i stuen høyt. ❌ sounds wrong/unusual in standard Norwegian.

Why is it i stuen and not på stuen?

For rooms inside a building, Norwegian usually uses i (“in”) rather than på (“on/at”):

• i stuen = in the living room
• i kjøkkenet / på kjøkkenet = both can occur, but på kjøkkenet is more common in many dialects
• i badet = in the bathroom
• i gangen = in the hallway

På stuen would only occur in some dialectal or older usage and is not standard in this meaning. In standard modern Bokmål, you say i stuen.

What’s the difference between stue, stuen, and stua?

They are different forms of the same noun stue (“living room”):

• stue = living room (indefinite singular)
  
  • en stue = a living room
• stuen = the living room (definite singular, -en ending)
  
  • i stuen = in the living room
• stua = the living room (definite singular, -a ending; more colloquial/alternative Bokmål, common in speech)

So you could also hear:

• Barna ler høyt i stua. (very natural in spoken Norwegian)

Both stuen and stua are correct Bokmål; stuen is somewhat more formal/standard written style, stua more colloquial.

How would I say “in a living room” instead of “in the living room”?

You switch from the definite form to the indefinite form:

• i stuen / i stua = in the living room
• i en stue = in a living room

So:

• Barna ler høyt i en stue.
  = The children are laughing loudly in a living room (not a specific, known one).

Does ler mean “laugh” or can it also mean “smile”? What if I want to say “smile”?

ler means “laugh(s)”.

If you want to say “smile,” you use smiler:

• Han ler. = He is laughing.
• Han smiler. = He is smiling.
• Barna ler høyt. = The children are laughing loudly.
• Barna smiler. = The children are smiling.

So ler is specifically about laughing, not just smiling.

How do you pronounce the vowel ø in høyt and stue? It looks strange to English speakers.

ø is a front rounded vowel that doesn’t exist in standard English, but you can approximate it:

• Shape your mouth as if you’re saying “oo” (as in “food”),
• But try to say “eh” (as in “bed”) at the same time.

For these words:

• høyt ≈ like “h” + [ø] + y-t; somewhat between “hoyt” and “hutt”, but with lips rounded
• stue: actually has u, not ø, and is pronounced roughly like STOO-eh (two syllables, stu-e)

If you focus on rounding your lips and keeping the sound short and fronted, you’ll get closer to a natural ø.