Læreren forklarer en paragraf om ytringsfrihet i grunnloven i samfunnsfagtimen.

The teacher explains a paragraph about freedom of speech in the constitution in the social studies class.

Breakdown of Læreren forklarer en paragraf om ytringsfrihet i grunnloven i samfunnsfagtimen.

• en: a
• om: about
• i: in
• forklare: to explain
• læreren: the teacher
• grunnloven: the constitution
• paragrafen: the paragraph
• ytringsfriheten: the freedom of speech
• samfunnsfagtimen: the social studies class

Questions & Answers about Læreren forklarer en paragraf om ytringsfrihet i grunnloven i samfunnsfagtimen.

Why is it Læreren and not lærer at the beginning?

Norwegian usually marks definiteness with an ending on the noun instead of a separate word like the.

• lærer = a teacher (indefinite)
• læreren = the teacher (definite)

In this sentence, we are talking about a specific, known teacher (probably their teacher in that class), so the definite form Læreren is used, meaning the teacher.

What exactly does forklarer mean, and why is it present tense?

forklarer is the present tense of å forklare = to explain.

Norwegian present tense (forklarer) covers both English explains and is explaining:

• Læreren forklarer en paragraf …
  = The teacher explains / is explaining a section …

Norwegian doesn’t have a separate continuous form like English is explaining. If you really want to stress that it’s happening right now, you can add nå:

• Læreren forklarer en paragraf nå.
  = The teacher is explaining a section now.

Does paragraf just mean “paragraph”?

Not exactly. paragraf is a bit of a false friend.

• In legal language, en paragraf usually means a section / article / clause of a law (often written with the symbol §).
• A regular text paragraph (in an essay, novel, etc.) is called et avsnitt.

So here, en paragraf om ytringsfrihet i grunnloven is best understood as a section/article about freedom of expression in the constitution, not just any normal text paragraph.

Why is it en paragraf, but grunnloven and samfunnsfagtimen are definite?

The forms reflect how specific each thing is:

• en paragraf = a section
  → one of many sections; not specified which one.
• grunnloven = the constitution
  → there is one specific, known constitution being referred to (e.g. the Norwegian Constitution).
• samfunnsfagtimen = the social studies lesson
  → a particular lesson that teacher and students are currently in.

So the sentence structure is:

• Læreren (the specific teacher)
• forklarer en paragraf (explains one section)
• om ytringsfrihet i grunnloven (about freedom of expression in the constitution)
• i samfunnsfagtimen (in the [current] social studies class)

What does om ytringsfrihet mean, and why is it not ytringsfriheten?

Here:

• om = about
• ytringsfrihet = freedom of expression / freedom of speech

So en paragraf om ytringsfrihet = a section about freedom of expression.

It’s indefinite (ytringsfrihet, not ytringsfriheten) because we’re talking about the general concept of freedom of expression, not “the particular freedom of expression” as a unique object. Norwegian often uses the indefinite form for abstract concepts used in a general way.

(Structurally: ytring = utterance, expression; frihet = freedom → ytringsfrihet = freedom to express oneself.)

How should I understand i grunnloven here? Could I use another preposition?

i grunnloven literally means in the constitution and describes where that paragraf is found (inside the text of the constitution).

• en paragraf i grunnloven
  = a section in the constitution

If you say fra grunnloven (from the constitution), it would sound more like you are taking something out of it or quoting it, not simply locating it there. For the idea of “a clause that is part of the constitution”, i grunnloven is the natural preposition.

There are two i phrases: i grunnloven i samfunnsfagtimen. Which word does each of them belong to?

We can see the structure like this:

• en paragraf om ytringsfrihet i grunnloven
  → describes what kind of paragraph: a paragraph about freedom of expression in the constitution
• i samfunnsfagtimen
  → describes when/where the explaining happens: in the social studies lesson

So:

• i grunnloven belongs with en paragraf.
• i samfunnsfagtimen belongs with forklarer.

Paraphrase in English:
In the social studies lesson, the teacher explains a section about freedom of expression in the constitution.

What is going on morphologically in samfunnsfagtimen? Why is it all one long word?

Norwegian likes compound nouns. samfunnsfagtimen is made of several parts:

1. samfunn = society
2. fag = subject (school subject)
   → samfunnsfag = social studies
3. time = lesson, class period
   → samfunnsfagtime = social studies lesson
4. -en = definite singular ending for masculine nouns
   → samfunnsfagtimen = the social studies lesson

So instead of a separate of / in like in English, Norwegian often glues nouns together into one compound word. The full phrase i samfunnsfagtimen then means in the social studies lesson/class.

Why don’t you say “our” in Norwegian, like i vår samfunnsfagtime?

In Norwegian, the definite form of a noun often covers what English would express with the or our, especially in fixed, shared contexts like:

• i norsktimen – in (our) Norwegian class
• i mattetimen – in (our) math class
• i samfunnsfagtimen – in (our) social studies class

You only add a possessive (vår, min, etc.) when you specifically want to emphasize whose it is, for example to contrast:

• i vår samfunnsfagtime, ikke i deres
  = in our social studies class, not in theirs

For a neutral statement about what happens in class, the bare definite form samfunnsfagtimen is normal.

Could I move i samfunnsfagtimen to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. That’s very natural in Norwegian:

• I samfunnsfagtimen forklarer læreren en paragraf om ytringsfrihet i grunnloven.

This follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb must be in second position, regardless of what comes first.

Word order here:

1. I samfunnsfagtimen – adverbial (time/place)
2. forklarer – verb (must be in second position)
3. læreren – subject
4. the rest of the sentence

What you cannot say is:

• ✗ I samfunnsfagtimen læreren forklarer … (verb is not in second position → ungrammatical)

How do I know which article/gender to use in words like paragraf, grunnlov, and time?

You generally have to learn noun gender with the noun, but some patterns help. For these words:

• paragraf → masculine
  
  • en paragraf, paragrafen
• lov (as in grunnlov) → feminine (but masculine forms are common in Bokmål)
  
  • feminine: ei lov, lova
  • masculine-style Bokmål: en lov, loven
  • in the sentence we have grunnloven = the constitution
• time → masculine
  
  • en time, timen
  • samfunnsfagtimen = the social studies lesson

Dictionaries will usually mark nouns as m, f, or n, and many feminine nouns can also take masculine forms in Bokmål.

Could I use a different verb instead of forklarer? For example gjennomgår?

Yes, several verbs would work, with slightly different nuances:

• forklarer – explains, focuses on making something understandable.
  
  • Læreren forklarer en paragraf …
• gjennomgår – goes through / reviews in a systematic way.
  
  • Læreren gjennomgår en paragraf om ytringsfrihet …
• går gjennom – phrasal version of gjennomgår, a bit more informal.
  
  • Læreren går gjennom en paragraf …
• underviser om – teaches about.
  
  • Læreren underviser om ytringsfrihet i grunnloven. (here you’d usually drop en paragraf)

All of these are grammatical; forklarer just emphasizes the act of explaining that specific legal clause so students understand it.