Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Ungdommen føler seg ensom i nabolaget. - The youth feels lonely in the neighborhood.

A specific young person (singular):
- en ungdom = a young person / a youth
- ungdommen = the young person / the youth
In this reading, the sentence means:
“The young person feels lonely in the neighborhood.”
Young people as a group (collective):
Norwegian often uses «ungdommen» to talk about “young people” in general:
- Ungdommen i dag = young people today
  Then the sentence can be understood as:
  “Young people feel lonely in the neighborhood.”

Without extra context, both readings are possible, but learners are often first taught the singular “the young person” meaning.

Why is the article attached to the noun («ungdommen») instead of using a separate word like “the youth”?

Norwegian generally uses suffix articles instead of separate words like “the”:

en ungdom = a youth / a young person
ungdommen = the youth / the young person

Pattern (common gender, singular):

en bil = a car
bilen = the car
en ungdom = a youth
ungdommen = the youth

So -en here is the definite article (“the”), attached directly to the noun.

What gender and number is «ungdommen», and does that affect other words?

«Ungdommen» is:

Common gender (masculine/feminine)
Singular
Definite (“the”)

This matters for things like adjectives and possessives in other contexts. For example:

en ensom ungdom = a lonely young person
den ensomme ungdommen = the lonely young person

In our sentence, the adjective «ensom» comes after the verb (predicative position), and then the rule is:

Singular common gender → base form of the adjective
- Ungdommen er ensom. = The young person is lonely.

So the form «ensom» is exactly what you expect with a singular common-gender subject like «ungdommen».

Why do we say «føler seg» and not just «føler»?

Norwegian uses a reflexive construction where English uses plain “feel + adjective”:

English: The young person feels lonely.
Norwegian: Ungdommen føler seg ensom.

Here:

føler = feels
seg = himself/herself/themselves (reflexive pronoun, 3rd person)

«føler seg» literally means “feels himself/herself”, but idiomatically it matches English “feels + adjective”.

You normally use this pattern when talking about how someone feels physically or emotionally:

Jeg føler meg bra. = I feel good.
Hun føler seg syk. = She feels sick.
De føler seg trygge. = They feel safe.

So you need the reflexive pronoun (meg/deg/seg/oss/dere/seg) together with «føler» in this meaning.

How would the sentence change with different subjects (I, you, we, they)?

The reflexive pronoun changes with the subject:

Jeg føler meg ensom i nabolaget.
= I feel lonely in the neighborhood.
Du føler deg ensom i nabolaget.
= You feel lonely in the neighborhood. (singular “you”)
Han / hun føler seg ensom i nabolaget.
= He / she feels lonely in the neighborhood.
Vi føler oss ensomme i nabolaget.
= We feel lonely in the neighborhood. (plural adjective is common here)
Dere føler dere ensomme i nabolaget.
= You (plural) feel lonely in the neighborhood.
De føler seg ensomme i nabolaget.
= They feel lonely in the neighborhood.

Pattern:

jeg → meg
du → deg
han/hun/den/det/de (singular) → seg
vi → oss
dere → dere
de (plural) → seg

Is «føler seg ensom» basically the same as «er ensom»? Any nuance?

They are very close, but there is a small nuance:

Ungdommen er ensom.
= The young person is lonely.
→ States a condition or characteristic: lonely is how they are.
Ungdommen føler seg ensom.
= The young person feels lonely.
→ Focuses more on the subjective experience right now (how they experience themself).

In real usage they often overlap, and both will usually be understood the same way, but:

«er ensom» sounds a bit more factual / descriptive.
«føler seg ensom» sounds more about the inner feeling.

What is the difference between «ensom» and «alene»?

Both relate to being by yourself, but they are not the same:

ensom = lonely (emotional state, negative)
- Hun er ensom. = She is lonely. (she feels unhappy and isolated)
alene = alone (physically by yourself; can be neutral or even positive)
- Hun er alene. = She is alone. (no one else is there; says nothing about feelings)

Compare:

Ungdommen er alene i nabolaget.
= The young person is alone in the neighborhood. (no one else is around)
Ungdommen føler seg ensom i nabolaget.
= The young person feels lonely in the neighborhood. (emotionally isolated)

You can be alene uten å være ensom (alone without being lonely).

Why is it «ensom» and not «ensomme» in this sentence?

This has to do with adjective forms in predicative position (after verbs like er, blir, føler seg).

Basic rule in Bokmål:

Singular common gender: base form
- Ungdommen er ensom.
Singular neuter: add -t
- Barnet er ensomt. = The child is lonely.
Plural (any gender): add -e
- Barna er ensomme. = The children are lonely.

Our subject «ungdommen» is singular, common gender, so the adjective stays in the base form:

Ungdommen føler seg ensom …

If it were plural, you’d use «ensomme»:

Ungdommene føler seg ensomme i nabolaget.
= The young people feel lonely in the neighborhood.

What exactly does «nabolaget» mean, and how is it formed?

«Nabolaget» means “the neighborhood”.

It’s formed like this:

et nabolag = a neighborhood
- nabo = neighbor
- lag here is a kind of “area / group” element
nabolaget = the neighborhood (definite form)

So in the sentence:

i nabolaget = in the neighborhood.

You could also say, for example:

Nabolaget er stille. = The neighborhood is quiet.
Vi trives i nabolaget. = We thrive / enjoy ourselves in the neighborhood.

Why do we use the preposition «i» in «i nabolaget»?

«i» is the standard preposition for “in / inside (within)” a place or area:

i huset = in the house
i byen = in the city
i landet = in the country
i nabolaget = in the neighborhood

Using «i» shows that the feeling of loneliness is located within that area (the neighborhood) as an environment.

A different preposition would change the meaning:

ved nabolaget = by/near the neighborhood (physically next to it)
rundt nabolaget = around the neighborhood

Those would sound odd in this sentence; «i» is the natural choice.

Could this sentence also mean “Young people feel lonely in the neighborhood” (collective meaning), not just “The young person feels lonely …”?

Yes, it can be understood collectively, depending on context and sometimes intonation.

Norwegian often uses singular definite to talk about a group as a type:

Ungdommen i dag er vant til teknologi.
= Young people today are used to technology.

So:

Ungdommen føler seg ensom i nabolaget.

can be read as:

A specific individual:
- “The young person feels lonely in the neighborhood.”
Young people as a group (more general):
- “Young people feel lonely in the neighborhood.”

If you wanted to be very explicit about the plural group, you could say:

Mange ungdommer føler seg ensomme i nabolaget.
= Many young people feel lonely in the neighborhood.

What is the basic word order here, and would «Ungdommen føler seg i nabolaget ensom» be possible?

The word order is straightforward Subject–Verb–(Object/Complement)–Adverbial:

Ungdommen (subject)
føler (verb)
seg ensom (reflexive pronoun + predicative adjective)
i nabolaget (place adverbial)

So:
Ungdommen føler seg ensom i nabolaget.

Putting «i nabolaget» in the middle like «Ungdommen føler seg i nabolaget ensom» is not natural Norwegian. Place adverbials like «i nabolaget» usually come after the main complement here.

You can move adverbials for emphasis, but then you typically move the whole adverbial clearly, e.g.:

I nabolaget føler ungdommen seg ensom.
= In the neighborhood, the young person feels lonely. (focus on the place)

But your suggested order splits “seg ensom” and sounds wrong to native speakers.

How do you pronounce «Ungdommen føler seg ensom i nabolaget»?

Here’s an approximate pronunciation using English-like spelling (Standard Eastern Norwegian):

Ungdommen ≈ OONG-dohm-men
- ung: “oong” (like oo in book
  - ng)
- dom: “dohm”
- stress on UNG
føler ≈ FØH-ler
- ø is like the vowel in British bird or French peu
- stress on FØ
seg ≈ sai (like English sigh)
ensom ≈ EN-som
- stress on EN
i ≈ ee (as in see)
nabolaget ≈ NAH-boh-lah-get
- na: “nah”
- bo: “boh”
- la: “lah”
- get: “get” (often with a soft g)
- main stress on NAH, a secondary little bump on LA

In IPA (one common realization):
/ˈʉŋdɔmən ˈføːlər sæi̯ ˈɛnsɔm iː ˈnɑːbʊˌlɑːɡə/

You don’t need the IPA to speak well, but it can help if you are used to phonetic notation.