Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Når vinneren smiler, får den som taper konkurransen trøst og kake i stedet for premie. - When the winner smiles, the one who loses the competition gets comfort and cake instead of a prize.

når is used for:
- Repeated / habitual events:
  - Når vinneren smiler, ... – whenever the winner smiles / when(ever) the winner smiles.
- General truths or rules.
- Future time: Når jeg kommer hjem, ... – when I get home (in the future).
da is used for:
- A single, specific event in the past:
  - Da vinneren smilte, fikk taperen trøst og kake. – When the winner smiled (on that occasion), the loser got comfort and cake.

In this sentence, we are describing a general rule (what happens whenever the winner smiles), so når is correct. Using da would sound like you’re telling a story about one specific time in the past.

Why is it "vinneren" and not just "vinner"?

Norwegian usually marks definiteness with a suffix, not a separate word like “the” in English.

vinner = a winner (indefinite)
vinneren = the winner (definite)

The sentence talks about the winner of that specific competition, so the definite form is expected: vinneren.

If you said Når en vinner smiler, it would sound like you’re talking about “a winner” in a very general sense, not the winner of this competition.

What exactly does "den som taper konkurransen" mean, and why use "den" here?

den som taper konkurransen literally means “the one who loses the competition.”

It’s built like this:

den – “the one” (gender-neutral, singular)
som – relative pronoun (“who / that”)
taper – “loses” (present tense of å tape)
konkurransen – “the competition” (definite)

Norwegian often uses den som to say “the one who …” in a neutral way:

den som vinner – the one who wins
den som vil være med – the one who wants to join

We don’t use han (he) or hun (she) because:

The loser could be any person, regardless of gender.
den som is the usual structure for this meaning.

Why is it "taper konkurransen" and not "taper i konkurransen"?

Both can exist, but the meaning is a bit different:

taper konkurransen = loses the competition itself
- Very direct: you participate in a specific competition and you lose it.
taper i konkurransen = loses *in the competition
Can sound more like losing *within
the competition (e.g., losing a round or doing poorly).
- Not necessarily “coming in last overall.”

In this context, we care about who loses the competition as an event, so taper konkurransen fits best.

Why is there a comma after "smiler"? Is that always required?

Yes, in Norwegian you normally put a comma between:

a subordinate clause and
the main clause,

especially when the subordinate clause comes first.

Here:

Når vinneren smiler – subordinate clause (introduced by når)
får den som taper konkurransen trøst og kake i stedet for premie – main clause

So you write:

Når vinneren smiler, får den som taper konkurransen …

If you reverse the order, you usually don’t use a comma:

Den som taper konkurransen får trøst og kake når vinneren smiler.

What is the word order in "får den som taper konkurransen trøst og kake"? Why does the verb come first?

Norwegian main clauses normally follow the V2 rule: the finite verb is in second position in the sentence, regardless of what comes first.

The main clause here is:

får – verb (finite, present tense)
den som taper konkurransen – subject (a long noun phrase)
trøst og kake – objects (what the subject gets)

Why is the verb first? Because:

The whole sentence starts with the subordinate clause Når vinneren smiler.
After that, the next thing in the main clause must be the verb (V2 rule).

So the underlying main clause is:

Den som taper konkurransen får trøst og kake.

But when we front the subordinate clause Når vinneren smiler, V2 kicks in and we get:

Når vinneren smiler, får den som taper konkurransen trøst og kake.

What does "trøst" mean exactly, and is it countable like in English?

trøst means “comfort” / “consolation.”

Grammatically, it’s a noun, but in practice it behaves more like an English mass noun:
- You usually don’t say “a comfort” in Norwegian here.
- You just say trøst with no article:
  - få trøst – get comfort
  - gi trøst – give comfort

So trøst here is like “comfort” in English used without “a” or “the.”

Why is it "kake" and not "kaker"? Does it mean one cake or cake in general?

kake can be:

a countable noun:
- en kake – a cake
- kaken – the cake
or used like a mass noun to mean “cake” as a type of food in general.

In får … trøst og kake, there is:

no article
no plural ending

So it’s more like “cake (as a treat)” in general, not “several cakes.”
If you said kaker, that would suggest multiple cakes as discrete items.

What does "i stedet for" mean, and can it be written as one word?

i stedet for means “instead of.”

i – in
stedet – the place
for – for

So literally: “in the place of,” but idiomatically: instead of.

About spelling:

i stedet for – the most standard and clear spelling.
istedenfor – also seen, especially in informal writing; accepted in many contexts but less formal.
In careful writing, especially when teaching or learning, it’s safest to use i stedet for as three words, like in the sentence:
… kake i stedet for premie.

Why is it "premie" and not "premien"?

premie = a prize (indefinite)
premien = the prize (definite)

Here we say i stedet for premie because it means “instead of (a) prize” in a general sense:

The loser doesn’t get a prize, they get cake instead.

If you said i stedet for premien, it would sound like:

“instead of the prize” – referring to one specific, known prize that everyone has in mind.

The indefinite form premie matches the English sense better in this context.