Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten.

I hardly sleep at night.

Breakdown of Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten.

• jeg: I
• sove: to sleep
• natten: the night
• om: at
• nesten ikke: hardly

Questions & Answers about Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten.

Why is it sover and not sove in Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten?

Sover is the present tense form of the verb å sove (to sleep).

• å sove = to sleep (infinitive)
• jeg sover = I sleep / I am sleeping (present)

Norwegian uses the same present tense form both for:

• English simple present: Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten = I hardly sleep at night.
• English present continuous: Jeg sover nå = I am sleeping now.

You never use the infinitive sove directly after the subject; you must conjugate it:

• ✅ Jeg sover. = I sleep / I am sleeping.
• ❌ Jeg sove. (wrong)

What exactly does nesten ikke mean here?

Nesten ikke literally means almost not and is usually translated as hardly or almost never in this context.

So:

• Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten.
  = I almost don’t sleep at night / I hardly sleep at night.

Nuance:

• ikke = not
• nesten = almost, nearly
• nesten ikke softens ikke: it’s not a complete “not”, but very close to it.

Compare:

• Jeg sover ikke om natten. = I do not sleep at night (at all).
• Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten. = I sleep very little at night.

Can I say Jeg sover ikke nesten om natten instead?

No, that word order is wrong in standard Norwegian.

The normal order is:

• nesten (almost) comes before ikke (not):
  
  • ✅ Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten.

Saying Jeg sover ikke nesten om natten sounds ungrammatical. Adverbs such as nesten usually stand before ikke when they modify the negation:

• Jeg spiser nesten ikke. = I hardly eat.
• Jeg trener nesten aldri. = I almost never exercise.

Why is it om natten and not om natta? Are both correct?

Both om natten and om natta are correct; the difference is style and formality.

• om natten – more bookish/standard, based on natt (night) + definite form natten.
• om natta – more colloquial/everyday, based on natta, the spoken definite form.

Meaning:

• Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten.
• Jeg sover nesten ikke om natta.

Both mean: I hardly sleep at night.

In most everyday spoken Norwegian, you’ll hear om natta more often, but om natten is perfectly normal in writing and in more formal speech.

Why do we use om before natten? Could we use i or på instead?

In time expressions like this, om is the usual preposition for parts of the day when talking about general, repeated time:

• om morgenen = in the morning
• om kvelden = in the evening
• om natten = at night

Using i or på here changes the meaning or sounds unnatural:

• ❌ Jeg sover nesten ikke i natten. (wrong; sounds like you’re physically inside the night)
• ❌ Jeg sover nesten ikke på natten. (not idiomatic in standard Norwegian for this meaning)

So for habitual actions:

• Jeg jobber om dagen. = I work during the day.
• Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten. = I hardly sleep at night.

Why is it natten (definite form) and not just natt?

With parts of the day and similar time expressions, Norwegian often uses the definite form to talk about time in a general, habitual sense:

• om morgenen = in the morning
• om kvelden = in the evening
• om natten = at night

So you say:

• ✅ om natten (the night, in general)
• ❌ om natt (not used this way)

The definite form here doesn’t mean one specific night; it’s a generic use, somewhat like English “in the morning / at night” rather than “in a morning / in a night”.

Can om natten go at the beginning of the sentence, and does the word order change?

Yes, you can move the time expression to the front. In Norwegian, when something other than the subject comes first, the verb usually comes in second position.

So:

• Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten.
• Om natten sover jeg nesten ikke.

Both mean the same, but Om natten sover jeg nesten ikke puts extra emphasis on “at night”.

Notice the word order:

• Initial element: Om natten
• Verb in second position: sover
• Subject after the verb: jeg
• Then adverbs: nesten ikke

Is there a difference between Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten and Jeg sover nesten aldri om natten?

Yes, there is a small nuance:

• nesten ikke = almost not / hardly (focus on how much you sleep)

  • Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten.
    → You sleep very little at night, but at least a bit.

• nesten aldri = almost never (focus on how often you sleep)

  • Jeg sover nesten aldri om natten.
    → On most nights you don’t sleep; maybe occasionally you do.

In everyday speech, both are often interpreted similarly (“I hardly sleep at night”), but:

• nesten ikke = quantity
• nesten aldri = frequency

Does Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten describe a habit (usually) or just right now?

By default, this sentence describes a general habit or repeated situation:

• Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten.
  = I hardly sleep at night (as a rule, usually).

The Norwegian present tense can also mean something happening around now, but the time phrase om natten strongly suggests a habitual pattern, not just one particular night.

If you want to talk about a specific recent period, you might add context:

• For tiden sover jeg nesten ikke om natten.
  = These days I hardly sleep at night.

How would I turn Jeg sover nesten ikke om natten into a yes/no question?

For a yes/no question in Norwegian, you typically put the verb first:

• Sover du nesten ikke om natten?
  = Do you hardly sleep at night?

Structure:

1. Verb: Sover
2. Subject: du
3. Adverbs: nesten ikke
4. Time expression: om natten

So from:

• Statement: Du sover nesten ikke om natten.
• Question: Sover du nesten ikke om natten?