Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Når hun er veldig deprimert, orker hun knapt å lese, selv om bøker vanligvis gir henne trygghet. - When she is very depressed, she hardly has the energy to read, even though books usually give her a sense of safety.

når is used for:
- general, repeated, or habitual situations (present or past)
- future time
da is used for:
- a single, specific event in the past

In the sentence:

Når hun er veldig deprimert, …

this describes something that happens whenever she is very depressed, i.e. a repeated/general situation. That’s why når is correct, not da.

If you were talking about one specific past episode, you’d use da:

Da hun var veldig deprimert, orket hun knapt å lese.
When she was very depressed (that one time), she could hardly read.

Why is it orker hun and not hun orker after the comma?

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb must be in second position in the clause.

When a sentence starts with something other than the subject (here, a når-clause), that entire bit counts as position 1. Then the finite verb comes in position 2, and the subject comes after it.

Structure here:

Når hun er veldig deprimert, = position 1 (a whole dependent clause)
orker = position 2 (finite verb)
hun = position 3 (subject)
knapt å lese … = rest of the clause

So:

Correct: Når hun er veldig deprimert, orker hun knapt å lese …
Incorrect as a main-clause word order: ✗ Når hun er veldig deprimert, hun orker knapt å lese …

Inside the når-clause itself you don’t use V2, because that clause is subordinate:

Når (subjunction) + hun (subject) + er (verb) + veldig deprimert (rest).

What does å orke mean exactly, and how is it different from å gidde or å kunne?

Å orke literally means to have the energy/strength (mental or physical) to do something.

In practice, it often implies:

you’re too tired, overwhelmed, depressed, or drained to do it
even if you might technically be able to

Typical pattern:

Jeg orker ikke å lese. – I don’t have the energy to read.
Hun orker knapt å snakke. – She can hardly manage to speak.

Compared with similar verbs:

å gidde – to bother (to do something)
Focus on motivation / willingness:
- Jeg gidder ikke å lese. – I can’t be bothered to read.
å kunne – to be able to / can
Focus on ability / possibility:
- Jeg kan ikke lese. – I can’t read (because I don’t know how / I’m not allowed / it’s not possible).

In this sentence, orker is used because depression affects her energy and capacity, not just her willingness.

Conjugation of orke:

infinitive: å orke
present: orker
past: orket / orka (both exist; orket is more standard in Bokmål)
past participle: orket / orka

What does knapt mean here, and why is it placed between orker and å lese?

Knapt means hardly / barely / almost not.

So:

orker hun knapt å lese ≈ she can hardly bring herself to read / she barely manages to read

About the placement:

In a verb group with a finite verb + infinitive, sentence adverbs like knapt, ikke, nesten, vanligvis, etc. typically go between the two:

Hun kan nesten ikke lese. – She can almost not read.
Hun vil sikkert komme. – She will probably come.
Hun orker knapt å lese. – She hardly has the energy to read.

You could also say:

Hun orker nesten ikke å lese.

which is stylistically very common. Knapt is a bit more formal/literary than nesten ikke, but both are natural.

Why do we say å lese after orker? Could we drop å?

In Norwegian, å is the infinitive marker, similar to to in English to read.

You generally:

use å before a lexical verb in the infinitive:
- å lese, å skrive, å sove
don’t use å after modal verbs like kan, vil, må, skal, bør:
- Hun kan lese.
- Hun vil lese.

Orke is not a modal verb, so it follows the regular rule and takes å:

Hun orker å lese.
Hun orker knapt å lese.

Without å, it would be wrong:

✗ Hun orker knapt lese. (ungrammatical in standard Bokmål)

What does selv om mean, and how is it different from men or fordi?

Selv om means even though / although and introduces a concessive subordinate clause – something that is true despite the main clause.

In the sentence:

…, selv om bøker vanligvis gir henne trygghet.

= … even though books usually give her a sense of security.

Compare:

men = but
It joins two main clauses:
- Hun er deprimert, men bøker gir henne trygghet.
fordi = because
It introduces a reason:
- Hun føler seg bedre fordi bøker gir henne trygghet.

So:

selv om: X happens, even though Y is (also) true (contrast)
men: joins two main clauses in contrast
fordi: gives a reason

Note: selv om at is possible in some spoken varieties but is usually avoided in standard written Norwegian; selv om on its own is preferred.

Why is the word order bøker vanligvis gir henne trygghet and not something like vanligvis bøker gir?

This is a subordinate clause (introduced by selv om), so it does not use V2. The typical word order in a subordinate clause is:

Subjunction (here: selv om)
Subject (here: bøker)
Mid-sentence adverb (here: vanligvis – usually)
Finite verb (here: gir)
Objects and other elements (here: henne trygghet)

So:

… selv om bøker vanligvis gir henne trygghet.

In a main clause, the verb would come earlier:

Bøker gir henne vanligvis trygghet.
Bøker gir vanligvis henne trygghet. (also possible)

But vanligvis bøker gir henne trygghet is not natural Norwegian word order, either in a main or a subordinate clause.

Why is it henne and not hun in gir henne trygghet?

Norwegian distinguishes between subject and object forms of personal pronouns:

hun – subject form (she)
henne – object form (her)

Use hun as the subject of a clause:

Hun er veldig deprimert.

Use henne as the direct or indirect object, or after prepositions:

Jeg ser henne. – I see her.
De gir henne trygghet. – They give her security.
For henne er bøker viktige. – For her, books are important.

In gir henne trygghet, henne is the indirect object (give security to her), so the object form henne is correct.

What does trygghet mean exactly, and how is it related to trygg?

Trygghet is a noun meaning roughly security, safety, a sense of being safe/secure.

It’s derived from the adjective trygg (safe, secure):

trygg (adj.) – en trygg person (a safe/reliable person)
trygghet (noun) – å gi noen trygghet (to give someone a sense of security)

In this sentence:

… bøker vanligvis gir henne trygghet.

means:

books usually make her feel safe / give her a sense of security.

About grammar:

Gender: en trygghet (common gender; used mostly as an abstract, mass-like noun)
It’s often used in fixed expressions:
- føle trygghet – feel safe
- skape trygghet – create a feeling of safety

Is veldig deprimert just “very depressed”? Is that a normal way to say it in Norwegian?

Yes, veldig deprimert is the normal, straightforward way to say very depressed.

Structure:

hun er deprimert – she is depressed
(deprimert is an adjective)
hun er veldig deprimert – she is very depressed
(veldig intensifies the adjective)

Other common intensifiers:

svært deprimert – very / extremely depressed (a bit more formal/written)
skikkelig deprimert, kjempe-deprimert – very depressed (more colloquial)

So Når hun er veldig deprimert is completely natural and neutral Norwegian.

Why are there commas after deprimert and before selv om?

The commas follow Norwegian clause comma rules:

Comma between a subordinate and a main clause when the subordinate comes first
- Når hun er veldig deprimert, orker hun knapt å lese …
- The når-clause is a subordinate clause placed before the main clause, so it’s separated by a comma.
Comma before a subordinate clause introduced by a conjunction like selv om
- … å lese, selv om bøker vanligvis gir henne trygghet.
- The selv om-clause is another subordinate clause; it’s separated by a comma from the main clause that comes before.

This is more systematic than in English: Norwegian is quite strict about putting commas between clauses, especially when a new subordinate clause starts.