Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Min niese melder seg som frivillig, og hun deler ut programmer ved inngangen til galleriet der plakatene henger. - My niece signs up as a volunteer, and she hands out programs at the entrance to the gallery where the posters hang.

Å melde means to report / to notify, but å melde seg is a reflexive verb and means to step forward / to volunteer / to sign up (oneself).

The reflexive seg shows that the subject acts on themself:

Hun melder seg som frivillig.
= She volunteers / She signs herself up as a volunteer.

If you removed seg:

Hun melder som frivillig.
This is wrong; it sounds like she “reports as a volunteer”, and it’s not idiomatic.

So you need seg here because melde seg is the normal way to say to volunteer / to sign up about yourself.

What is the difference between melde seg, melde seg på, and melde seg som frivillig?

They are related but not identical:

melde seg
General to come forward / to volunteer / to present oneself.
Example: Flere melder seg. – Several people are coming forward / volunteering.
melde seg på
Specifically to sign up for a course, event, list, etc.
Example: Han melder seg på kurset. – He signs up for the course.
melde seg som frivillig
Literally to register oneself as a volunteer, i.e. to volunteer.
This is what your sentence uses: Min niese melder seg som frivillig.

So in your sentence, melder seg som frivillig is the natural way to say volunteers.

What does som mean in som frivillig, and could we leave it out?

Here som means as:

som frivillig = as a volunteer

It introduces a role or function. Norwegian often uses som for this:

Han jobber som lærer. – He works as a teacher.
Hun ble valgt som leder. – She was chosen as leader.

In your sentence, you cannot drop som:

Min niese melder seg frivillig.
This is also correct Norwegian, but it changes the structure slightly.
Frivillig then functions more like an adverb: She volunteers (willingly).
Min niese melder seg som frivillig.
Focuses on the role she takes: she signs up as a volunteer.

Both are possible, but they mean slightly different things. The given sentence highlights the role.

What tense is melder and deler, and how does Norwegian present tense correspond to English?

Melder and deler are present tense forms:

å melde → melder
å dele → deler

Norwegian present tense can correspond to all these English forms, depending on context:

My niece volunteers
My niece is volunteering
My niece does volunteer (for emphasis)

Norwegian has only one simple present form, so melder seg can be translated as either volunteers or is volunteering, depending on what sounds most natural in English.

What does deler ut mean? How is it different from just dele?

Å dele by itself means to divide / to share.

Å dele ut is a two-part verb (a bit like an English phrasal verb) and usually means to hand out / distribute:

Hun deler ut programmer. – She hands out programs.
Læreren deler ut prøvene. – The teacher hands out the tests.

If you said:

Hun deler programmer.

it could be understood as she shares programs or she divides programs, and it sounds odd in this context. For distributing items to people, use dele ut.

Why is it programmer and not program in plural here?

Program is a neuter noun:

Singular: et program (a program)
Definite singular: programmet (the program)

For the indefinite plural, Bokmål actually allows two forms:

flere program
flere programmer

Both are correct. In practice, programmer is very common, especially for concrete, countable items (TV programs, event programs, computer programs).

In your sentence:

hun deler ut programmer
= she is handing out multiple physical programs (booklets/leaflets), so the plural programmer fits well.

Why is it ved inngangen and not i inngangen or på inngangen?

The preposition ved here means by / at / near:

ved inngangen = (right) by the entrance, at the entrance area.

If you said:

i inngangen – in the entrance (inside the entrance space, e.g. in the hallway). Possible, but more physical “inside” feeling.
på inngangen – literally on the entrance (on the door/structure); this is usually wrong in this context.

For people standing at the place where others enter, ved inngangen is the natural preposition: standing at/by the entrance.

Why are inngangen and galleriet in the definite form?

Norwegian usually marks definiteness with an ending on the noun:

en inngang → inngangen (the entrance)
et galleri → galleriet (the gallery)

In your sentence, we are talking about a specific entrance and a specific gallery, not just any entrance or any gallery:

ved inngangen – at the entrance (of that place)
til galleriet – to the gallery (the one we already know from context)

In Norwegian, it is very common to use the definite form in cases where English might use just context or might use the. The endings -en and -et are the normal definite markers.

Why do we say til galleriet instead of i galleriet or på galleriet?

The preposition til often expresses movement towards something: to / towards.

ved inngangen til galleriet
= at the entrance to the gallery

It describes the entrance that leads to that gallery.

Comparisons:

ved inngangen til galleriet – at the entrance to the gallery (focus on the entrance).
i galleriet – in the gallery (inside the gallery itself).
på galleriet – could be used in some dialects or in set expressions, but the usual neutral form is i galleriet for “in the gallery”.

Here the idea is “the entrance that leads to that gallery”, so til is the natural choice.

What does der mean in der plakatene henger, and how is it different from hvor?

In this sentence, der is a relative adverb meaning where:

… galleriet der plakatene henger.
= … the gallery where the posters are hanging.

About der vs hvor:

der is often used in relative clauses after a place-word:
- stedet der vi bor – the place where we live
- galleriet der plakatene henger – the gallery where the posters are hanging
hvor is more typical in questions or indirect questions:
- Hvor bor du? – Where do you live?
- Jeg vet ikke hvor han bor. – I don’t know where he lives.

In modern Bokmål, some people also say stedet hvor vi bor, so hvor is common in speech too, but der in your sentence is completely standard and slightly more formal/neutral in this relative-clause function.

Why is the word order der plakatene henger and not der henger plakatene?

Der plakatene henger is a subordinate clause (a relative clause). In Norwegian subordinate clauses, the normal word order is:

Subject – Verb – Other elements

So:

Subject: plakatene
Verb: henger

→ der plakatene henger

If you say:

Der henger plakatene.

that would be a main clause meaning There the posters are hanging / The posters hang there (statement with der as a fronted adverb). That’s a different structure.

So:

Subordinate clause: … der plakatene henger. – where the posters are hanging.
Main clause: Der henger plakatene. – The posters are hanging there.

What is the nuance of henger here? Is it the same verb used for “to hang up” something?

Å henge can be both:

Intransitive – something is hanging (no direct object):
- Plakatene henger på veggen. – The posters are hanging on the wall.
Transitive – someone hangs something up (with object, often henge opp):
- Hun henger opp plakatene. – She is hanging up the posters.

In your sentence:

der plakatene henger
is intransitive: where the posters are hanging (already hanging there).

If we wanted the action of putting them up, we would more likely say henge opp:

Hun henger opp plakatene i galleriet. – She is putting up the posters in the gallery.