Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Joggeturen i hagen gjør meg mindre stresset. - The jog in the garden makes me less stressed.

If you say En joggetur i hagen gjør meg mindre stresset, it sounds more like a general statement: “A jog in the garden makes me less stressed (in general, whenever I do it).”

Both are grammatically correct; the nuance is about how specific or familiar you make the jog sound.

Why does joggeturen have -en at the end instead of en in front?

Norwegian marks definiteness mainly with a suffix:

joggetur = a jog / jogging trip (bare form)
en joggetur = a jog (indefinite, with the article in front)
joggeturen = the jog (definite, with -en at the end)

So:

English: the jog
Norwegian: joggetur
- -en → joggeturen

You do not add another article in front in the basic form.
You say Joggeturen (not Den joggeturen) unless you want extra emphasis like Den joggeturen i går var tøff (That jog yesterday was tough).

What is the function of i hagen? Does it describe the jog or where I am less stressed?

In this word order, i hagen most naturally attaches to joggeturen:

Joggeturen i hagen = the jog in the garden

So the default reading is:

The jog that takes place in the garden makes me less stressed.

It is technically possible to imagine:

The jog makes me less stressed in the garden,

but that is not how native speakers will usually understand this sentence. To express “less stressed in the garden”, you would more likely change the word order or add clarification, for example:

Joggeturen gjør meg mindre stresset når jeg er i hagen.

Why is it i hagen and not på hagen?

Norwegian normally uses:

i hagen = in the garden
på hagen would sound wrong in standard Norwegian in this meaning.

i is used for being inside/within something that is seen as a space or area you can be in:

i hagen (in the garden)
i parken (in the park)
i skogen (in the forest)

på is often used for surfaces, islands, and some set expressions:

på bordet (on the table)
på fjellet (in the mountains / up in the mountains)
på skolen (at school)

For a normal garden, you almost always say i hagen.

Why is it hagen and not en hage?

hage = garden
en hage = a garden
hagen = the garden

Using hagen suggests a specific, known garden (most likely “my/our garden” or another familiar garden):

Joggeturen i hagen … ≈ The jog in the (known) garden …

If you said:

Joggeturen i en hage gjør meg mindre stresset.

this would mean something like “The jog in a (random) garden makes me less stressed”, which sounds odd unless there is a reason to keep the garden non-specific.

Why is the word order Joggeturen i hagen gjør meg mindre stresset and not like English “The jog in the garden me makes less stressed”?

Norwegian is a verb-second (V2) language in main clauses. The finite verb (here gjør) must come in second position, no matter what the first element is.

In this sentence:

Joggeturen i hagen = first element (subject phrase)
gjør = verb in second position
meg mindre stresset = the rest (object + predicative)

So the structure is:

[Subject/first element] + [verb] + [rest]
Joggeturen i hagen
- gjør
  - meg mindre stresset

This is correct and required word order in a normal Norwegian main clause.

Why is it gjør meg and not gjør jeg?

Because I am not the subject here; the jogging is the subject.

Subject: Joggeturen i hagen (the jog in the garden)
Verb: gjør (makes)
Object: meg (me)

So the structure is literally:

The jog in the garden makes me less stressed.

In Norwegian:

jeg = subject form (I)
meg = object form (me)

Since I am what is being affected (the object), you have to use meg, not jeg.

What tense is gjør and what kind of time does it describe here?

gjør is present tense of å gjøre (to do/make).

Norwegian present tense is used for:

General truths or habits
- That is what is happening here: this is something that is generally true, or a repeated effect.
Actions happening right now
- e.g. Han gjør leksene sine nå. (He is doing his homework now.)

So in this sentence, gjør expresses a general or habitual effect: whenever you (regularly) take that jog in the garden, it makes you less stressed.

Could I say Å jogge i hagen gjør meg mindre stresset instead? What’s the difference from Joggeturen i hagen?

Yes, you can say:

Å jogge i hagen gjør meg mindre stresset.

Differences:

Å jogge i hagen = jogging in the garden (the activity in general, expressed with infinitive å jogge)
Joggeturen i hagen = the jog in the garden (a countable event or type of “trip”, via the noun joggetur)

Nuance:

Å jogge i hagen gjør meg mindre stresset.
Focus on the activity jogging in the garden in general.
Joggeturen i hagen gjør meg mindre stresset.
Slightly more concrete; focuses on that jog / the jogging trip as a unit or routine.

Both are very natural.

Is stresset here an adjective or some kind of past participle?

Formally, stresset is the past participle of the verb å stresse (to stress), but in this sentence it is used as an adjective in the meaning “stressed”.

Norwegian does this a lot: participles are used like adjectives:

Jeg er sliten. (sliten = participle used as an adjective: tired)
Hun er forvirret. (forvirret = confused)

Here:

meg mindre stresset = me less stressed

Grammatically: stresset functions as a predicative adjective describing the state of meg.

Why is it mindre stresset and not something like mindre stress?

In Norwegian, mindre can modify:

adjectives → mindre stresset (less stressed)
nouns → mindre stress (less stress)

Here, you want to describe how you feel, i.e. your state, so an adjective is natural:

mindre stresset = less stressed (my state is less stressed)

If you said:

Joggeturen i hagen gir meg mindre stress.

that would mean “The jog in the garden gives me less stress”, focusing more on the amount of stress (a noun) rather than your state.

Both are possible, but mindre stresset is the usual way to describe how you feel.

Can I say mer avslappet instead of mindre stresset? Is there a difference?

You can absolutely say:

Joggeturen i hagen gjør meg mer avslappet.

Differences in nuance:

mindre stresset = less stressed (reducing a negative feeling)
mer avslappet = more relaxed (increasing a positive feeling)

Content-wise they are very close, and both are idiomatic.
Which one you choose depends on whether you want to frame it as removing stress or creating relaxation.

Why is there no extra pronoun like den before gjør (something like “The jog in the garden, it makes me…”)?

Norwegian does not normally double the subject with an extra pronoun the way English sometimes does in speech:

English (spoken): The jog in the garden, it makes me less stressed.
Norwegian: Joggeturen i hagen gjør meg mindre stresset.
(no extra den)

You only add something like den for special emphasis or contrast:

Joggeturen i hagen, den gjør meg virkelig mindre stresset.
(The jog in the garden, that really makes me less stressed.)

In the neutral sentence, just the noun phrase Joggeturen i hagen as subject is enough.

How would you pronounce gjør, and why is there a j?

gjør is pronounced roughly like “yur” in English (with a fronted y sound).

Details:

gj- in this word is pronounced as a soft “y” sound (IPA [j])
The ø is a rounded front vowel (like French “peu” or German “schön” but shorter)
The r is usually a single tapped or rolled r depending on dialect

So:

gjør ≈ [jør] in IPA
Think of something like “yur” with lips rounded on the vowel

The j is part of the spelling reflecting this [j] sound; it’s not silent, just not pronounced like an English g.