Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Det spilles brettspill i stuen hver fredag. - Board games are played in the living room every Friday.

So “Det spilles brettspill” corresponds to English “Board games are played” or more naturally “People play board games” / “We play board games.”
Norwegian likes to keep the word order subject–verb, so it inserts “det” when there’s no concrete subject.

What form is “spilles”, and how is it formed from “spille”?

“Spilles” is the present passive of the verb “å spille” (to play).

Active: “Vi spiller brettspill.” – We play board games.
Passive: “Det spilles brettspill.” – Board games are played.

In Bokmål, the passive of a verb is usually made by adding -s to the finite verb form:

spiller → spilles (play → is/are played)
leser → leses (read → is/are read)

So “spilles” = “is/are played” (with the subject left vague or impersonal).

Why is “brettspill” used without an article? Why not “et brettspill” or “brettspillene”?

In “Det spilles brettspill”, “brettspill” is used like an uncountable / generic plural, similar to English “we play board games” (not the board games or a board game).

No article → general activity, not specific games.
“et brettspill” = a board game (one game).
“brettspillene” = the board games (specific ones already known).

So “Det spilles brettspill” = “Board games are (generally) played” / “People play board games.”

Is “brettspill” singular or plural here? It looks like one word.

Grammatically, “brettspill” is the singular indefinite form (a compound neuter noun):

et brettspill – a board game
brettspillet – the board game
brettspill – board games (indefinite plural has the same form)
brettspillene – the board games

In practice, in this sentence it is understood generically, like a plural (board games in general), even though the form is the same as singular. Context tells you it means “board games (as an activity)”.

What is the difference between “stue” and “stuen”?

stue = living room, indefinite singular
- Jeg sitter i stue. – incorrect
- Jeg sitter i en stue. – I’m sitting in a living room.
stuen = the living room, definite singular
- Jeg sitter i stuen. – I’m sitting in the living room.

In the sentence “i stuen”, we are referring to a specific living room (the one in this home), so you need the definite form: stuen.

Why is it “i stuen” and not “på stuen”?

With rooms inside a house, Norwegian usually uses the preposition “i” (in):

i stuen – in the living room
i kjøkkenet / på kjøkkenet – in the kitchen (both exist, but på is very common for “the kitchen” as a workspace)
i gangen – in the hallway
i soverommet – in the bedroom

“på stuen” is generally not used in standard Bokmål for “in the living room.”
So “i stuen” is the normal, idiomatic choice.

Why is “hver fredag” at the end? Could I say “Hver fredag spilles det brettspill i stuen”?

The neutral word order in Bokmål is:

[Subject] – [Verb] – [Other elements] – [Time]

So: Det spilles brettspill i stuen hver fredag.

However, you can move the time expression to the front for emphasis or style:

Hver fredag spilles det brettspill i stuen.
= Every Friday, board games are played in the living room.

Both are correct. Moving “hver fredag” to the front slightly emphasizes the regularity (every Friday).

Could I say this in a more “normal” active way, like “We play board games in the living room every Friday”?

Yes. A very natural, everyday version would be:

Vi spiller brettspill i stua hver fredag.

Notes:

Vi spiller = We play (active, not passive).
i stua = colloquial/short form of i stuen (common in speech and informal writing).

Both versions mean the same:

Det spilles brettspill i stuen hver fredag. – More neutral/impersonal, slightly more formal.
Vi spiller brettspill i stua hver fredag. – Everyday, personal, sounds like a family/friends habit.

What is the difference between “hver fredag”, “på fredager”, and “annenhver fredag”?

All are time expressions, but with different nuances:

hver fredag – every Friday (each week)
- Det spilles brettspill i stuen hver fredag.
på fredager – on Fridays / on Friday(s) (habitual, but a bit more general)
- Det spilles brettspill i stuen på fredager.
annenhver fredag – every other Friday / every second Friday
- Det spilles brettspill i stuen annenhver fredag.

In your sentence, “hver fredag” clearly means once a week, every Friday.

Why doesn’t the sentence mention who plays the board games?

Norwegian can use:

Passive with “det”:
- Det spilles brettspill i stuen hver fredag.
  This focuses on the activity rather than the people. It’s like saying:
- There is board game–playing going on in the living room every Friday.
Active with “man” (impersonal “one/people”):
- Man spiller brettspill i stuen hver fredag.
  = People play board games in the living room every Friday.
Active with “vi”:
- Vi spiller brettspill i stuen hver fredag.
  = We play board games in the living room every Friday.

The original sentence chooses the impersonal passive, which is common in descriptions of habits, rules, or general situations.

Is this sentence more formal, neutral, or informal in style?

“Det spilles brettspill i stuen hver fredag.” is neutral to slightly formal because:

It uses the passive (spilles) instead of vi spiller.
It has the full form stuen instead of colloquial stua.

In everyday speech among friends/family, “Vi spiller brettspill i stua hver fredag” would sound more natural.
In a written notice or description of a place (e.g., “In this common room, board games are played every Friday”), the original passive sentence fits well.

Can the word order be “Det brettspill spilles i stuen hver fredag”? It looks more like English.

No, “Det brettspill spilles …” is incorrect.

In Norwegian:

The dummy subject “det” comes first.
The verb “spilles” must come right after the subject in a main clause.
The object “brettspill” comes after the verb.

Correct word order:

Det spilles brettspill i stuen hver fredag.

Think of the pattern as:

Det + [passive verb] + [what is done] + [place] + [time]
Det spilles brettspill i stuen hver fredag.