Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Nevøen min leker med barna i hagen. - My nephew plays with the children in the garden.

Postposed possessive (most common, neutral style):
- nevøen min = my nephew (literally “the nephew my”)
- boka mi = my book
- huset vårt = our house
Preposed possessive (more emphatic or stylistic):
- min nevø = my nephew (with some emphasis, e.g. my as opposed to someone else’s)
- min bok, vårt hus

In this sentence, nevøen min is the usual, neutral way to say my nephew in everyday Norwegian. Min nevø is also correct, but can sound a bit more formal, emphatic, or contrastive depending on context.

Why do we have both a definite ending and a possessive in “nevøen min”? Isn’t that like saying “the my nephew”?

Yes, literally it is like “the nephew my”, but that’s normal in Norwegian. This is called double definiteness, and it is required in most cases when:

the noun is definite
and there is a postposed possessive (or an adjective + noun combination with a determiner)

Pattern:

en nevø = a nephew
nevøen = the nephew
nevøen min = my nephew

You must use the definite form with a postposed possessive:

✅ nevøen min
❌ nevø min (wrong)

But with a preposed possessive, there is no definite ending:

✅ min nevø (my nephew)
❌ min nevøen (wrong)

How do “nevø” and “barn” change form? What exactly are “nevøen” and “barna”?

Two different nouns, two different patterns:

nevø (nephew) – masculine (en‑word)
- Indefinite singular: en nevø = a nephew
- Definite singular: nevøen = the nephew
- Indefinite plural: nevøer = nephews
- Definite plural: nevøene = the nephews
In the sentence, nevøen = the nephew.
barn (child) – neuter (et‑word) with an irregular plural
- Indefinite singular: et barn = a child
- Definite singular: barnet = the child
- Indefinite plural: barn = children
- Definite plural: barna = the children
In the sentence, barna = the children.

So nevøen min leker med barna = My nephew is playing with the children.

Why is it “leker” and not “spiller”? Don’t both mean “play”?

Norwegian distinguishes between two main verbs for play:

å leke
- Used for children playing, playing with toys, make‑believe, general free play.
- Example: Barna leker i hagen. – The children are playing in the garden.
å spille
- Used for games with rules, sports, musical instruments, etc.
- Example: Han spiller fotball. – He plays football.
- Example: Hun spiller piano. – She plays the piano.

In Nevøen min leker med barna i hagen, they are just playing in the general, childlike sense, so leker is the correct verb.

What form of the verb is “leker”, and does it change with the subject like in English?

Leker is the present tense of the verb å leke (to play).

Key points:

Infinitive: å leke
Present: leker (for all subjects)
- jeg leker – I play
- du leker – you play
- han/hun leker – he/she plays
- vi leker – we play
- dere leker – you (pl.) play
- de leker – they play

Norwegian verbs do not change form according to person or number. There is no -s like English he plays; it’s always leker in the present tense.

Could “leker” here mean “toys” instead of “plays”?

No, not in this sentence. But it’s useful to know the ambiguity:

en leke (noun) = a toy
leker (noun, plural) = toys
å leke (verb) = to play
leker (verb, present) = plays / is playing

How do we know it’s a verb here?

The structure is [subject] + [verb]: Nevøen min leker …
After a noun meaning toys, we would expect something like are in the box, lie on the floor, etc., not med barna (with the children).

So in this sentence, leker can only be read as the verb plays / is playing.

Why is it “med barna” and not “sammen med barna”? How different are they?

med barna = with the children
sammen med barna = together with the children

In many contexts, med already implies together with, so:

Nevøen min leker med barna
= My nephew is playing with the children.

You can add sammen to emphasize the idea of being together or to be extra clear:

Nevøen min leker sammen med barna i hagen.

Both are correct. med alone is more concise and completely natural here.

Why is it “i hagen” and not “på hagen”? What’s the difference between “i” and “på”?

Both i and på can translate as in/on/at, but they’re used with different kinds of places.

i hagen = literally in the garden and is the normal expression.
You’re inside the area of the garden.
på hagen is usually not used in standard Norwegian in this sense and would sound wrong or at least very strange to most speakers.

Similar examples:

i huset – in the house
i parken – in the park
på skolen – at (the) school
på kontoret – at the office

You just have to learn which preposition goes with which noun, but for hage (garden/yard), it’s i hagen when you are in that space.

Why is it “barna” (the children) and not just “barn” (children)? English could say “playing with children” without “the”.

Norwegian is often more specific with definiteness than English.

med barn = with children (children in general; somewhat generic)
med barna = with the children (a specific, known group of children)

In a normal, concrete sentence like:

Nevøen min leker med barna i hagen.

the speaker is almost always talking about a particular group (for instance, the children who are there in the garden), so barna (definite) is natural.

Using med barn here would sound more generic or unusual, unless the context is something like:

Han jobber med barn. – He works with children. (general statement)

Can the word order be changed? For example, can I say “I hagen leker nevøen min med barna”?

Yes, Norwegian word order is fairly flexible, but there are rules.

Basic sentence:

Nevøen min leker med barna i hagen.
Subject – Verb – Object – Place

If you move a phrase to the front (here: i hagen), Norwegian follows the V2 rule (the finite verb must be in second position):

I hagen leker nevøen min med barna.
(In the garden plays my nephew with the children.)

This version is correct, but it:

emphasizes the place (the garden)
sounds a bit more literary or stylistic

You generally cannot put the verb somewhere other than second position in a main clause:

❌ I hagen nevøen min leker med barna. (wrong word order)

How do you pronounce “nevøen min leker med barna i hagen”?

Approximate standard Eastern Norwegian pronunciation (with rough English hints):

nevøen – /neˈvøːən/
- roughly: neh-VUH-en (with a rounded ø like French deux)
min – /min/
- like English “mean” but shorter
leker – /ˈleːkər/
- roughly: LAY-ker (long e)
med – /meː/ or /me/
- like “meh” or “may” depending on dialect
barna – /ˈbɑːɳɑ/ (in Eastern Norwegian, rn becomes a retroflex sound)
- roughly: BAR-na (with a retroflex r+n sound, tongue curled back)
i – /i/
- like “ee” in “see”
hagen – /ˈhɑːɡən/
- roughly: HAH-gen (with a long a like “father”)

Whole sentence, loosely:
neh-VØH-en min LAY-ker meh BAR-na i HAH-gen.

How would the sentence change if I have more than one nephew?

Then you need the plural forms of nevø and the possessive:

Nevøene mine leker med barna i hagen.
= My nephews are playing with the children in the garden.

Breakdown:

nevøer = nephews (indefinite plural)
nevøene = the nephews (definite plural)
mine nevøer = my nephews (preposed possessive)
nevøene mine = my nephews (postposed possessive; neutral style)

So:

Singular: Nevøen min leker … – My nephew is playing …
Plural: Nevøene mine leker … – My nephews are playing …

Why is it “min” and not “mitt” or “mine” in “nevøen min”?

The possessive pronoun must agree with the gender and number of the noun.

The basic forms:

min – for masculine nouns (singular)
mi – for feminine nouns (singular; in many Bokmål styles, you can still use min instead)
mitt – for neuter nouns (singular)
mine – for all plural nouns

Examples:

min nevø / nevøen min (masculine)
mi søster / søstera mi or min søster / søsteren min (feminine)
mitt hus / huset mitt (neuter)
mine barn / barna mine (plural)

Since nevø is masculine, we use min:

nevøen min = my nephew.