Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Vi går på et nytt teaterstykke i byen i kveld. - We are going to a new play in the city tonight.

In this sentence, Vi går på et nytt teaterstykke i byen i kveld, går is used in the sense of “we’re going (attending)”, not literally walking.

Common patterns:

å gå på kino – to go to the cinema
å gå på konsert – to go to a concert
å gå på restaurant – to go to a restaurant
å gå på teaterstykke – to go to a play

You can also say Vi skal på et nytt teaterstykke i byen i kveld, which focuses more clearly on the future plan (“We are going to go to …”). Using present tense (går) for a near-future, planned event is very normal in Norwegian, just like English “We’re going to a play tonight.”

Why do we say på et nytt teaterstykke and not til et nytt teaterstykke?

With events and activities, Norwegian often uses på where English uses “to”:

å gå på konsert – go to a concert
å gå på fest – go to a party
å gå på kurs – go to a course
å gå på restaurant – go to a restaurant
å gå på (et) teaterstykke – go to a play

Til often emphasizes the destination as a place:

Vi drar til byen – We’re going to the city (destination)
Vi går til skolen – We’re walking to school (movement towards)

But for attending an event, på is the normal preposition. So på et teaterstykke sounds natural; til et teaterstykke would sound odd in this context.

Why is it et nytt teaterstykke and not en ny teaterstykke?

Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender. Teaterstykke is a neuter noun.

The indefinite article for neuter is et (not en).
That’s why we say: et teaterstykke.

The word teaterstykke is a compound:

teater (theatre)
stykke (piece; stykke is neuter: et stykke)

In Norwegian, a compound noun normally takes the gender of its last part, so teaterstykke inherits the neuter gender from stykke.

Therefore:

et teaterstykke = a play
et nytt teaterstykke = a new play

Why is the adjective nytt and not ny in et nytt teaterstykke?

Adjectives in Norwegian must agree with the noun in gender and number.

For the adjective ny (new):

en ny bil – masculine singular
ei ny bok – feminine singular
et nytt hus – neuter singular
nye biler – plural

Because teaterstykke is neuter, the adjective must take the neuter singular form nytt.

So:

et nytt teaterstykke (correct)
et ny teaterstykke (incorrect)
en ny teaterstykke (incorrect in two ways: wrong article and wrong adjective form)

Why do we say teaterstykke and not just teater? Aren’t they both “theatre”?

They are related but not the same:

teater = theatre as an art form or institution
- Vi liker teater. – We like theatre (in general).
- Vi går på teater. – We go to the theatre (the institution/show in general).
teaterstykke = a specific play / theatrical piece
- et teaterstykke av Ibsen – a play by Ibsen

In Vi går på et nytt teaterstykke, the focus is on one particular play (a specific production), not theatre as an art form in general.
If you said Vi går på teater i kveld, that would mean “We’re going to the theatre tonight” more generally, without emphasizing one new specific play.

Why do we use the article at all? Could I say Vi går på nytt teaterstykke without et?

In Norwegian, a singular, countable noun almost always needs an article (indefinite or definite) if there is no other determiner like den, denne, min etc.

So you normally say:

Vi går på et teaterstykke.
Vi går på det nye teaterstykket.
Vi går på dette teaterstykket.

Leaving out et (Vi går på nytt teaterstykke) sounds ungrammatical in standard Norwegian in this context.

You can drop the article in some fixed phrases (spise middag, drikke kaffe, gå på skole), but gå på (et) teaterstykke is not one of those article-less patterns.

Why is the word order Vi går på et nytt teaterstykke i byen i kveld and not Vi går i kveld på et nytt teaterstykke i byen?

Both orders are possible, but they have different degrees of naturalness and emphasis.

The neutral, natural order here is:

Vi går på et nytt teaterstykke i byen i kveld.

A common guideline for adverbials in Norwegian (not an absolute rule) is:

Manner / what-kind-of-activity – Place – Time

In this sentence:

på et nytt teaterstykke – what kind of activity
i byen – place
i kveld – time

You can front i kveld to emphasize time:

I kveld går vi på et nytt teaterstykke i byen. – Tonight, we’re going to a new play in town.

Vi går i kveld på et nytt teaterstykke i byen is not wrong, but it is less natural and might sound a bit awkward in everyday speech; speakers usually put i kveld either at the end or at the very beginning.

Why do we say i byen and not til byen in this sentence?

i byen = in the city / in town (location)
til byen = to the city / to town (movement towards the city)

In the sentence, i byen simply tells you where the play is happening:

et nytt teaterstykke i byen – a new play in town

If you wanted to talk about your movement towards the city, you could say, for example:

Vi drar til byen for å se et nytt teaterstykke i kveld.
– We’re going to the city to see a new play tonight.

So i byen here is about where the play takes place, not about your travel destination.

Is it okay to have two i’s in a row: i byen i kveld? That feels strange from an English point of view.

In Norwegian, each adverbial phrase normally keeps its own preposition, even if the same one repeats:

i byen i kveld – in town tonight
på skolen i dag – at school today
på kino i morgen – at the cinema tomorrow

English often uses only one preposition for the whole phrase (in town tonight), but Norwegian grammar doesn’t “share” prepositions in that way.
So i byen i kveld is completely normal and idiomatic.

What exactly does i kveld mean? Is it “this evening” or “tonight”?

i kveld covers both “this evening” and “tonight” in English, depending on context. It refers to later today, in the evening/night, usually from roughly late afternoon/early evening until you go to bed.

Rough equivalents:

i kveld ≈ “this evening / tonight”
i morges – this morning (earlier today)
i dag – today
i morgen – tomorrow

You might also see i aften, which is a bit more formal or old-fashioned in everyday speech, and often replaced by i kveld.

Could we use skal instead of går to talk about the future: Vi skal på et nytt teaterstykke i byen i kveld?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct, and very common.

Vi går på et nytt teaterstykke i byen i kveld.
– Present tense used for a planned, near-future event (very natural).
Vi skal på et nytt teaterstykke i byen i kveld.
– Uses skal, which often marks plans/intention/future more explicitly.

Both are idiomatic. Skal can sound a bit more like “We’re going to (intend to) go…”, while går can sound more like describing the arrangement as a set plan (“We’re going…”). In everyday conversation, Norwegians use both.

Can I change the word order inside the noun phrase and say et teaterstykke nytt instead of et nytt teaterstykke?

No. In Norwegian, adjectives normally go before the noun in the indefinite form:

et nytt teaterstykke – a new play
en stor by – a big city
ei gammel bok – an old book

Putting the adjective after the noun (et teaterstykke nytt) is not standard grammar here. Postposed adjectives exist in some special cases (especially in literary style or fixed expressions), but not in simple phrases like “a new play”.