Learn Hardcore Norwegian: I matpakken har barna brødskiver, frukt og litt grønnsaker. - In the packed lunch the children have slices of bread, fruit and some vegetables.

Norwegian has a verb‑second (V2) word order in main clauses: the finite verb (here har) must come in second position, but any one element can come first.

Barna har i matpakken …
→ Subject (barna) first, verb (har) second. Neutral, very common.
I matpakken har barna …
→ The prepositional phrase (I matpakken) is moved to the front as the “topic”, and the verb (har) still stays in second place, so the subject (barna) moves after the verb.

Both sentences are grammatically correct.
I matpakken har barna … slightly emphasizes what is in the lunch box, rather than who has it.

What does matpakken mean, and why does it end in -en?

The noun is matpakke:

mat = food
pakke = package / parcel
→ matpakke = a (packed) lunch, lunch box, lunch pack.

Norwegian marks definiteness with an ending instead of putting “the” in front:

en matpakke = a packed lunch
matpakken = the packed lunch

So I matpakken literally means “in the packed lunch”, but in natural English we’d usually say “in the (kids’) lunchbox / packed lunch”.

Why is it barna and not something like barnene or barn?

The noun barn (child) is neuter and irregular:

et barn = a child
barn = children (indefinite plural)
barna = the children (definite plural)

There is no form barnene in standard Norwegian; barna already means “the children”.

In the sentence, barna har … = “the children have …”. No extra article (the) is used in front, because definiteness is already built into the ending -a.

What exactly is brødskiver, and why is there no article?

Brødskiver is a compound plural noun:

brød = bread
skive = slice
skiver = slices (indefinite plural)
→ brødskiver = slices of bread (literally “bread‑slices”)

There is no article because it’s an indefinite plural in a general sense:

barna har brødskiver = the children have (some) slices of bread.

If you wanted to specify a particular set of slices, you could say brødskivene (“the slices of bread”), but here it’s just a general description of what their lunch contains.

Why does frukt have no article or plural ending? Is it singular or plural?

Frukt in Norwegian is usually treated as a mass noun, like “fruit” in English:

frukt (no article) often means fruit in general / some fruit.
You can make a count plural (frukter) when you talk about kinds of fruit or separate units, but that’s less common in everyday speech about packed lunches.

So barna har … frukt = “the children have fruit” (some fruit), without needing an article like “a” or a plural ending.

Why is it litt grønnsaker and not noen grønnsaker?

Both litt grønnsaker and noen grønnsaker are possible, but they sound slightly different:

litt grønnsaker
- Literally: “a little vegetables”
- Focuses on the small quantity; you imagine just a little bit of vegetables (a few pieces of cucumber, some carrot sticks, etc.).
noen grønnsaker
- Literally: “some vegetables”
- More neutral; just means some, without emphasizing that it’s a very small amount.

In a lunchbox context, litt grønnsaker sounds very natural, because kids often have just a small portion of vegetables with their lunch.

What form is grønnsaker, and what is the singular?

Grønnsaker is the indefinite plural form:

en grønnsak = a vegetable
grønnsaken = the vegetable
grønnsaker = vegetables
grønnsakene = the vegetables

In the sentence, litt grønnsaker = “a little (bit of) vegetables / some vegetables” in general, not specific ones.

Why is the preposition i used in i matpakken—could it be på matpakken?

Here i means “in / inside”, which fits the idea of food inside a lunchbox or wrapping:

i matpakken = in the packed lunch / in the lunchbox

På usually means “on” or “on top of” or sometimes “at”:

på bordet = on the table
på skolen = at school

Since the food is inside the lunch container, i is the natural choice.
På matpakken would sound like something is on top of the lunch packet, which is not what we mean here.

Why isn’t there a word for “their” in I matpakken har barna …?

Norwegian often leaves out possessive pronouns (my, your, their) when it’s obvious who the owner is, especially with family members, body parts, and personal items like clothes or lunch:

Barna har jakker = The children have jackets (their jackets).
Hun vasker hendene = She washes (her) hands.

In I matpakken har barna …, it’s clear from context that this is the children’s packed lunch, so adding sin / sine or deres would usually be unnecessary or even sound a bit heavy:

I matpakken har barna … (normal, natural)
I matpakken sin har barna … (possible in some dialects, but not standard Bokmål)
I matpakken deres har barna … (grammatical, but sounds more marked/emphatic)

Can I also say Barna har brødskiver, frukt og litt grønnsaker i matpakken? Is that the same?

Yes, that word order is perfectly correct:

Barna har brødskiver, frukt og litt grønnsaker i matpakken.

This is a more neutral, very common structure: subject first (barna), verb second (har), then the objects and finally i matpakken.

The meaning is effectively the same.
The original:

I matpakken har barna …

just puts a little extra focus on what’s in the lunchbox by making I matpakken the first element.

How do you pronounce brødskiver and grønnsaker?

Approximate pronunciations (Bokmål, Central/Eastern accent):

brødskiver
- brød: like English “bruh” but with rounded lips, similar to British “bird” but with ø sound.
- ski: like “shee”.
- ver: similar to “vehr”.
  → Roughly: BRØH-shee-vehr
grønnsaker
- grønn: grø with the same ø sound + an n (the double nn just shortens the vowel).
- sa: like “sah”.
- ker: like “kehr”.
  → Roughly: GRØNN-sah-kehr

The exact sound ø doesn’t exist in English; it’s like saying “uh” while rounding your lips.