Learn Hardcore Norwegian: De fleste av studentene bruker ordbok på mobilen, men ingen av dem tar den med til eksamen. - Most of the students use a dictionary on the phone, but none of them bring it to the exam.

De fleste studenter = Most students (students in general, not a specific group).
De fleste av studentene = Most of the students (most of a specific, known group of students).

In this sentence, av studentene shows we are talking about a particular group (for example, the students in a certain class). So de fleste av studentene is most of the students (in that group), not students in general.

Why do we need av in de fleste av studentene? Could we just say de fleste studentene?

You cannot say de fleste studentene in Norwegian; that is ungrammatical.

To say most of the X, Norwegian uses:

de fleste av + bestem form (the-form)

Examples:

de fleste av bøkene = most of the books
de fleste av vennene mine = most of my friends
de fleste av studentene = most of the students

Without av, you must drop the article and use an indefinite plural:

de fleste studenter = most students (in general)

Why is it studentene (definite plural) and not just studenter?

Because of the construction de fleste av + definite plural:

studenter = students (indefinite plural, general)
studentene = the students (definite plural, a particular group)

Since the phrase is de fleste av studentene, you must use the definite form studentene. If you wanted to speak generally, you would say de fleste studenter instead.

Why is ordbok in the singular and not plural (ordbøker) when we’re talking about many students?

Norwegian often uses a singular noun with a generic meaning, just like English does in sentences like:

Most of the students use a dictionary on their phone.

Here, en ordbok means a/the dictionary app or a dictionary, but we don’t need to repeat it for every student. Each student is understood to have their own dictionary.

So:

De fleste av studentene bruker ordbok
= Most of the students use (a) dictionary (each their own).

If you say ordbøker, it sounds more like they use dictionaries in the sense of several different dictionaries at the same time, which is not what’s meant here.

What gender is ordbok, and why is the pronoun later den and not det?

In Bokmål, ordbok is a common gender noun:

en ordbok – ordboken / ordboka

Common-gender nouns (the old masculine + feminine group) use:

den as the pronoun for things in singular.
det is for neuter nouns.

So den in tar den med refers back to ordbok:

ordbok → den
hus (neuter: et hus) → det

Why is it på mobilen and not i mobilen or på mobilen sin?

på mobilen:
- Literally: on the mobile (phone).
- Idiomatically: on their phone (like on the phone screen, on the device).
- This is the natural way to talk about something being on a phone, tablet, computer, etc.:
  - på mobilen, på pc-en, på nettbrettet.
i mobilen:
- Literally: in the phone.
- This can be used when something is stored inside the phone (contacts, files), but with apps or usage, på mobilen is much more common.
på mobilen sin (on their own phone):
- This is also possible and emphasizes that it’s their own phone.
- The original sentence is more neutral and generic; it doesn’t focus on ownership, just on the medium (the mobile phone).

So på mobilen is the normal, idiomatic choice here.

Why is it mobilen (definite form) but just ordbok (indefinite form)? Why not ordboken på en mobil?

There are two different ideas:

ordbok is used in a generic, type-of-thing sense: they use a dictionary (app).
mobilen is more concrete and specific: each person’s particular phone, which is treated as known in the context (their usual phone).

In English, something similar happens:

They use a dictionary on their phone
(we don’t usually say on a phone here; we assume it’s their usual phone).

Norwegian reflects that by making mobilen definite (the phone) but ordbok indefinite (a dictionary).

What is the difference between ingen and ingen av dem in men ingen av dem tar den med til eksamen?

ingen by itself = no one, nobody, none:
- Ingen tar den med. = Nobody brings it.
ingen av dem = none of them (referring back to a known group):
- ingen av dem specifically points to de fleste av studentene mentioned earlier.

Using ingen av dem keeps the reference clear: among the students we just mentioned, none of them bring it.

You could also say men ingen av studentene tar den med til eksamen, which is a bit more explicit and slightly more formal.

Could you say ingen tar den med til eksamen instead of ingen av dem tar den med til eksamen? Would the meaning change?

You can say:

Men ingen tar den med til eksamen.

This is grammatical and would usually be understood as referring to the same students from context. Differences:

ingen tar den med
- Shorter, more general: but nobody brings it to the exam (in this situation).
ingen av dem tar den med
- Explicitly ties the ingen back to de fleste av studentene, so it clearly means none of those students.

Both are acceptable; the original version is slightly clearer and more tightly connected to the first clause.

Why is it tar den med and not something like tar med den or just tar den til eksamen?

Ta med is a particle verb in Norwegian, similar to English bring along / take along:

ta = take
med = with
ta med = bring, take along

With object pronouns, the usual word order is:

ta den med (verb + object + particle)
- Jeg tar den med. = I’ll bring it.

Tar med den would sound unusual or wrong in standard Norwegian here.

Also, ta noe til eksamen without med would focus on the direction (take something to the exam) and is less idiomatic. The natural expression for “bring it (with you) to the exam” is:

ta den med til eksamen.

Why is it not tar den med seg? I learned that ta med seg means “bring with oneself”.

Both exist:

ta med
ta med seg

In practice:

ta den med and ta den med seg both can mean bring it (along).
seg explicitly marks that you are bringing it with yourself, but in many everyday contexts it is optional and often dropped, especially in the 3rd person plural like here.

So:

Ingen av dem tar den med til eksamen.
Ingen av dem tar den med seg til eksamen.

Both are acceptable and mean essentially the same thing here. The version without seg is just a little shorter and more colloquial.

Why is it til eksamen and not på eksamen or i eksamen?

The preposition depends on what you want to express:

ta noe med til eksamen
- til = to (destination).
- Focuses on bringing something to the place/event of the exam.
- This is exactly what we mean here.
på eksamen
- Literally: on the exam, idiomatically often during the exam.
- Used about what happens while you are taking the exam:
  - Du kan ikke bruke ordbok på eksamen. = You can’t use a dictionary in the exam.
i eksamen
- Rare/unnatural in this sense; normally not used for this meaning.

So til eksamen is the correct choice when talking about bringing something to the exam.

Why is the present tense bruker and tar used here, when in English we might say Most of the students use a dictionary... but none of them bring it to the exam? Is it the same type of present tense?

Yes, it’s the same general present / habitual present as in English.

Norwegian present tense (bruker, tar) is used for:

Habits and repeated actions:
- Han drikker kaffe hver dag. = He drinks coffee every day.
- De fleste av studentene bruker ordbok ... men ingen av dem tar den med ...
  = describes what they usually do.

So the tense usage corresponds closely to English here. The sentence talks about their general behavior, not a single, one-time situation.