Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Barndommen hennes var trygg, men hun husker også noen perioder med ensomhet. - Her childhood was safe, but she also remembers some periods of loneliness.

Barndommen hennes (noun + definite ending + possessive after):
- Very common and neutral in Norwegian.
- Slightly more concrete and specific: that particular childhood of hers.
- Often preferred in written Norwegian.
Hennes barndom (possessive before noun):
- Also correct, but can sound a bit more formal, heavy, or contrastive.
- Used more when you want to contrast with someone else’s childhood:
  Hennes barndom var trygg, men brorens var vanskelig.
  “Her childhood was safe, but her brother’s was difficult.”

In everyday speech and writing, “Barndommen hennes” is the most natural choice here.

Why is “Barndommen” in the definite form (with -en)?

Norwegian often uses the definite form when talking about someone’s life stages as known, specific periods:

barndommen – the childhood
ungdommen – the youth
livet hans/hennes – his/her life

Since we are talking about her specific childhood as a whole period, it’s natural to say “Barndommen hennes” rather than “En barndom hennes” or just “Barndom hennes” (the latter is ungrammatical).

Compare:

Barndommen hennes var trygg.
Her (entire) childhood was safe.
Hun hadde en trygg barndom.
She had a safe childhood.
(Here you use indefinite because you’re describing a type of childhood, not pointing to it as a “known thing”.)

Why is it “hennes” and not “sin” in “Barndommen hennes var trygg”?

Norwegian has two kinds of possessives:

sin / si / sitt / sine – reflexive (belonging to the subject of the clause)
hans / hennes / deres – non‑reflexive (belonging to someone else, or used when the subject is not the owner)

In “Barndommen hennes var trygg”:

The subject of the clause is Barndommen (“the childhood”).
The owner of that childhood is hun (“she”), but she is not the subject of this clause.

So you cannot use sin (which must refer back to the subject). You must use hennes:

✅ Barndommen hennes var trygg.
❌ Barndommen sin var trygg. (would mean “The childhood’s own childhood was safe” – nonsense)

If you make hun the subject, then you can use sin:

Hun husker sin trygge barndom.
(“She remembers her own safe childhood.” – here hun is the subject, so sin can refer to her.)

Why is “var” past tense, but “husker” present tense in the same sentence?

You have two different time perspectives:

Barndommen hennes var trygg – Her childhood was safe.
- Childhood is a period in the past, so the verb is in the past tense (var).
men hun husker også noen perioder med ensomhet – but she also remembers some periods of loneliness.
- The remembering happens now, in the present; her current state of memory is described, so husker is in the present tense.

This mix is natural in Norwegian (and English, too): a present mental state about past events.

Why does “også” come after the verb: “hun husker også” and not “hun også husker”?

In a normal Norwegian main clause, the finite verb must be in second position (the V2 rule):

Hun husker også …
Subject (Hun) – verb (husker) – adverb (også).

Placing også before the verb would break this pattern:

❌ Hun også husker noen perioder … – ungrammatical in standard Norwegian.

You can move også later for emphasis:

Hun husker noen perioder med ensomhet også.
Here også emphasizes the periods, not the remembering itself.

So:

Hun husker også … – she also remembers (in addition to other things).
… med ensomhet også. – there are also some periods with loneliness (in addition to other types of periods).

Could I say “noen ensomme perioder” instead of “noen perioder med ensomhet”? What’s the difference?

Both are grammatical, but the nuance changes a bit:

noen perioder med ensomhet
- Literally “some periods with loneliness”.
- Slightly more abstract and neutral.
- Focuses more on the feeling (ensomhet) that appeared during those periods.
noen ensomme perioder
- “some lonely periods”.
- Feels a bit more direct and personal, like the periods themselves were characterized by loneliness.
- Slightly more emotional tone.

In this context, “noen perioder med ensomhet” sounds a bit calmer and more descriptive; “noen ensomme perioder” sounds more vivid or subjective.

Why is it “trygg” and not “trygt” or “trygge” in “Barndommen hennes var trygg”?

Norwegian adjectives have different forms, but in predicative position (after er/var/blir) they use their basic form for singular:

en trygg barndom
Barndommen er trygg.
Barndommen var trygg.

The forms of trygg are:

trygg – basic form (used:
- with en/ei nouns: en trygg barndom
- after er/var with singular subjects: Barndommen var trygg
trygt – neuter singular: et trygt hjem
trygge – plural or definite: de trygge barndomsminnene, den trygge barndommen (in attributive position)

So “Barndommen hennes var trygg” uses trygg because:

the subject is singular, and
the adjective is after var (predicative use).

What’s the difference between “trygg” and “sikker”? Could I say “Barndommen hennes var sikker”?

No, you normally wouldn’t say “Barndommen hennes var sikker”.

trygg:
- “safe, secure, free from danger or emotional insecurity”
- used for feelings of safety, stable environments, protective upbringing, etc.
- Barndommen hennes var trygg. – Her childhood was safe/secure.
sikker:
- “sure, certain, reliable”, sometimes “safe” in specific phrases
- used for things like “Are you sure?”, “a secure victory”, “a reliable job”.
- Er du sikker? – Are you sure?
- en sikker seier – a certain/secure victory

For describing a childhood, you almost always use trygg, not sikker.

What exactly does “ensomhet” express compared to “ensom”?

ensom – adjective: “lonely”
- Hun følte seg ensom. – She felt lonely.
ensomhet – noun: “loneliness” (the state or condition)
- Ensomhet kan være vanskelig. – Loneliness can be difficult.

In “perioder med ensomhet”, we talk about the state of loneliness as something that occurred during those periods, not just labeling the periods as “lonely” with an adjective.

You could rephrase:

noen perioder der hun var ensom – some periods when she was lonely
noen perioder med ensomhet – some periods with loneliness

The meaning is close, but ensomhet treats it as a condition or experience.

Why is the preposition “med” used in “perioder med ensomhet”, and not “av” or “i”?

With abstract nouns like ensomhet, Norwegian often uses med to mean “characterized by / accompanied by”:

perioder med ensomhet – periods with loneliness
et liv med mye glede – a life with much joy

Other prepositions would sound odd or mean something else:

❌ perioder av ensomhet – not idiomatic here; av is more “caused by” or “made of”.
❌ perioder i ensomhet – would mean “periods spent in loneliness” and sounds too literal or poetic in this context.

So “med ensomhet” is the normal, idiomatic way to say “with loneliness” here.

What does “noen” add in “noen perioder med ensomhet”? Could I just say “perioder med ensomhet”?

noen = “some / a few” (unspecified, but more than one).

noen perioder med ensomhet:

Tells us that these were several, but not many and not all periods.
It sounds natural and complete.

If you drop noen:

perioder med ensomhet (without any determiner) sounds incomplete or fragmentary in this sentence.
You would normally need something like:
- Hun husker perioder med ensomhet. (then “perioder” is implicitly definite – the periods we have in mind)
- or Hun husker flere perioder med ensomhet.

So noen very naturally expresses “some, but not all”, softening the contrast: her childhood was safe, but still there were some lonely times.

Could I swap the clauses and say “Hun husker også noen perioder med ensomhet, men barndommen hennes var trygg”?

Yes, that is grammatically fine and understandable.

However, the focus changes:

Barndommen hennes var trygg, men hun husker også noen perioder med ensomhet.
- Main message: It was generally safe, but there were also lonely times.
- Starts with the positive, then adds a nuance.
Hun husker også noen perioder med ensomhet, men barndommen hennes var trygg.
- Main message: She remembers loneliness, but overall the childhood was safe.
- Starts with the negative, then corrects or softens it.

Both are possible; the original version more naturally fits a “mostly positive, with some shadow” description.

Can I use “selv om” instead of “men” here? For example: “Barndommen hennes var trygg, selv om hun også husker noen perioder med ensomhet.”

Yes, you can, but the nuance changes:

men = “but”
- Coordinates two main clauses, simple contrast:
  - Safe childhood but also some loneliness.
selv om = “even though / although”
- Introduces a subordinate clause and emphasizes that the second fact does not cancel or does not contradict the first as much as you might think.
- Barndommen hennes var trygg, selv om hun også husker noen perioder med ensomhet.
  Implication: we still describe the childhood as safe, even though there were some lonely periods.

Both are correct; men is more neutral and simpler, selv om adds a slight “concession” feeling.

How is “ensomhet” pronounced, especially the final -het?

In standard Eastern Norwegian:

ensomhet is roughly: [ˈeːnsɔmˌheːt]
- en- like “ehn”
- -som- like “som” in “some” but with a clearer o ([ɔ])
- -het – the t is often weakly pronounced or almost silent in casual speech; you mainly hear he with a long e.

So you’ll often hear something close to “EN-som-heː”, with the t not strongly articulated. Some dialects do pronounce the t more clearly.