Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Jeg blir motivert når jeg ser hvor inspirert venninnen min er på skolen. - I become motivated when I see how inspired my female friend is at school.

Jeg er motivert = I am motivated (a state).
Jeg blir motivert = I become / I get motivated (a change of state, something triggers the motivation).

In your sentence, the motivation is triggered when you see how inspired your friend is, so Norwegian naturally uses blir motivert to show that you become motivated at that moment.

You could say Jeg er motivert når jeg ser …, but that sounds more like:

“I am (already) motivated when I see …” – focusing on your existing state rather than the triggering effect.

Why is it når and not da for “when” in når jeg ser?

Norwegian has two common words for “when”:

når
- Used for repeated, general, or future situations.
- Also used in questions (“Når kommer du?” = “When are you coming?”).
da
- Used for one specific event in the past (never in questions).

In your sentence:

Jeg blir motivert når jeg ser …
This describes something that happens whenever you see how inspired she is – a repeated / general situation.
→ So når is correct.

If you were telling a story about one specific past time, you might use da instead, e.g.:

Jeg ble motivert da jeg så hvor inspirert venninnen min var på skolen.
= I got motivated when I saw how inspired my friend was at school (one particular time in the past).

In når jeg ser, why is it present tense (ser) and not something like “will see”?

Norwegian often uses the present tense where English uses present, future, or “whenever” forms, especially in “when”-clauses:

Jeg blir motivert når jeg ser …
Literally: I get motivated when I see …
Meaning: I (will) get motivated whenever I see … / when I see …

You generally don’t say:

✗ når jeg skal se here (that sounds like “when I’m going to see” and is more about a planned act of seeing).

So the Norwegian present tense ser covers the idea of “whenever I see / when I see (in general or in future)”, which matches English well in this kind of sentence.

In hvor inspirert venninnen min er, why does hvor mean “how” and not “where”?

Hvor can mean both “where” and “how”, depending on the context:

“Where” – with locations:
- Hvor er du? = Where are you?
- Hvor på skolen er du? = Where in/at the school are you?
“How” – with adjectives/adverbs (degree/extent):
- Hvor inspirert = how inspired
- Hvor gammel er du? = How old are you?
- Hvor vanskelig er det? = How difficult is it?

In your sentence, hvor comes right before an adjective (inspirert), so it clearly has the “how” meaning:

hvor inspirert venninnen min er = how inspired my (female) friend is.

If you wanted “where my friend is at school”, you’d use hvor with a location phrase, e.g.:

hvor på skolen venninnen min er = where at school my friend is.

Why is the verb er at the end of hvor inspirert venninnen min er?

This is an example of a subordinate clause that looks like an indirect question (“how inspired my friend is”).

In Norwegian:

In a main clause, the verb is usually in second position:
- Venninnen min er inspirert. (Subject + verb right after the first element)
In a subordinate clause introduced by words like at, fordi, når, hvor, etc., the verb does not move to second place. The order is more like:
- [link word] + (adverb/adj) + subject + verb

So:

Hvor inspirert venninnen min er
- hvor (link word)
- inspirert (adjective)
- venninnen min (subject + possessive)
- er (verb)

This is the same pattern as:

Jeg vet ikke hvor gammel han er. = I don’t know how old he is.
Kan du fortelle meg hvor stor leiligheten er? = Can you tell me how big the apartment is?

So the verb at the end is normal word order for this kind of embedded “how … is” clause in Norwegian.

Why is it venninnen min and not min venninne? Are both correct?

Both are grammatically correct; they just differ in style and nuance.

venninnen min
- Noun in definite form (venninnen = “the (female) friend”)
- possessive min after it.
- Very common and neutral in everyday speech.
- Often the default way to say “my friend”.
min venninne
- Possessive min before the noun, which stays in indefinite form (venninne).
- A bit more formal, or can sound a bit emphatic/contrasting in many contexts, e.g.:
  - Det er min venninne, ikke din. = That’s my (female) friend, not yours.

In your sentence, venninnen min is the most natural, neutral choice:

… når jeg ser hvor inspirert venninnen min er på skolen.
= … when I see how inspired my (female) friend is at school.

Why is the noun venninnen in definite form even though we already have min? Isn’t that “double definite”?

Yes, this is the typical “double definiteness” pattern in Norwegian.

Rules (for most of Bokmål):

If the possessive comes after the noun:
- Noun must be in definite form:
  - venninnen min = my (female) friend
  - huset vårt = our house
  - boka di = your book
If the possessive comes before the noun:
- Noun is in indefinite form:
  - min venninne
  - vårt hus
  - din bok

So in your sentence, since min comes after, you need the definite suffix -en:

venninne → venninnen
- min → venninnen min.

What’s the difference between venn, venninne, and venninnen? Does venninnen min mean “girlfriend”?

Forms:

venn
- “friend” (traditionally male, but now often used gender-neutrally).
venninne
- “female friend”.
venninnen
- Definite form: “the female friend”.

In your sentence:

venninnen min = “my (female) friend”.

This does not automatically mean “girlfriend” in a romantic sense. The usual word for a romantic partner is kjæreste (gender-neutral). Context can sometimes make venninne sound like “female friend I’m also dating”, but on its own, it’s simply female friend.

So venninnen min is normally understood as “my (female) friend”, not “my girlfriend”.

Why is it på skolen and not i skolen?

With institutions and places like school, work, the office, Norwegian very often uses på:

på skolen = at school / in school (as an institution)
på jobb = at work
på kontoret = at the office
på universitetet = at the university

i skolen would sound more like literally inside the school building, and is much less common in this kind of general sentence.

So:

… hvor inspirert venninnen min er på skolen. = how inspired my friend is at school / in a school context (e.g. in her studies and classes), which is exactly what you want here.

Does på skolen here mean “in the school building” or “in school / at school” generally?

Context decides, but in this sentence it’s naturally understood as “at school / in school” in the general sense, not just physically in the building.

på skolen can mean:

Physically at the place:
- Jeg er på skolen nå. = I am at school now (location).
As a student / school context:
- Hun er flink på skolen. = She does well at school.
- Han er veldig motivert på skolen. = He is very motivated at school.

In your sentence:

… hvor inspirert venninnen min er på skolen. is most naturally read as:
- “how inspired my friend is at school (when she is studying / in class / doing schoolwork)”.

Should it be ser or ser på? In English we say “look at” — do I need på in når jeg ser hvor inspirert …?

Here, ser without på is correct.

se on its own can mean “see” in the sense of perceive / notice:
- Jeg ser hvor glad du er. = I see how happy you are.
- Når jeg ser hvor travelt du har det, … = When I see how busy you are, …
se på is more like “look at / watch” (actively directing your eyes):
- Jeg ser på TV. = I watch TV.
- Jeg ser på henne. = I look at her.

In your sentence, you mean:

“when I see (notice/realize) how inspired she is” → ser is perfect.

If you said:

når jeg ser på hvor inspirert venninnen min er,
it would sound a bit off or overly literal, like you are staring at the “how inspired” itself. So keep it as ser.