Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Han vil melde seg opp til norskkurset i morgen. - He wants to register for the Norwegian course tomorrow.

Han – he
vil – wants / will
melde – to report / to register / to announce
seg – himself (reflexive pronoun)
opp – up (a verbal particle; often just part of the expression)
til – to / for (preposition)
norskkurset – the Norwegian course
- norsk – Norwegian
- kurs – course
- -et – the (definite ending, neuter)
i morgen – tomorrow (literally: in the morning/tomorrow, but as a fixed phrase it just means tomorrow)

Does vil here mean “will” (future) or “wants to”?

Vil can mean both, depending on context:

As “wants to”:
- Han vil melde seg opp… = He wants to sign up…
As a future meaning, like English “will / is going to”:
- Here vil mostly expresses his intention/plan for the future:
  Han vil melde seg opp til norskkurset i morgen.
  → He is going to sign up / He will sign up tomorrow.

Very often in Norwegian, vil + infinitive is somewhere between “wants to” and “is going to”, expressing both desire and intention.

Why is there no å before melde?

In Norwegian, modal verbs are followed by the bare infinitive (without å).

Common modal verbs: kan, vil, skal, må, bør, får.

So you say:

Han vil melde seg opp… (correct)
Han vil å melde seg opp… (wrong)

You would use å with regular verbs:

Han begynner å melde seg opp…
Han liker å gå på norskkurs.

Why do we need seg after melde?

Seg makes the verb reflexive: the subject is doing something to themself.

melde noen opp = register someone (else)
melde seg opp = register oneself

So:

Han vil melde seg opp til norskkurset.
→ He wants to register himself for the course.

Without seg, it sounds like he is registering someone else:

Han vil melde ham opp til norskkurset.
→ He wants to register him for the course.

Reflexive pronouns in Norwegian:

meg – myself
deg – yourself
seg – himself/herself/itself/themselves
oss – ourselves
dere – yourselves

What exactly does the expression melde seg opp til mean, and how is it different from melde seg på?

Both are about registering/signing up, but they’re used a bit differently.

melde seg opp til X
- literally: register oneself up to/for X
- typical with things like exams and sometimes courses:
  melde seg opp til eksamen / til et kurs
melde seg på X
- literally: register oneself on X / sign up for X
- very common in everyday speech for courses and events:
  melde seg på et kurs / på et seminar

So your sentence:

Han vil melde seg opp til norskkurset i morgen.

is correct, but in daily language many people would more naturally say:

Han vil melde seg på norskkurset i morgen.

Why is the preposition til used with norskkurset here?

Because it follows the pattern of the expression melde (seg) opp til noe:

melde seg opp til eksamen – register for an exam
melde seg opp til kurset – register for the course

Here til roughly corresponds to English “for”:

melde seg opp til norskkurset
→ sign up for the Norwegian course

If you use melde seg på, the preposition changes:

melde seg på et kurs / på et norskkurs
Han vil melde seg på norskkurset.

What is norskkurset exactly, and why is it written as one word?

Norskkurset is a compound noun:

norsk – Norwegian (adjective)
kurs – course (noun)
norskkurs – Norwegian course
norskkurset – the Norwegian course

Norwegian normally writes compounds as one word, not as two separate words like English:

språkkurs – language course
norsklærer – Norwegian teacher
norsktimer – Norwegian lessons

The ending -et marks the definite singular of a neuter noun (et kurs → kurset). So:

et norskkurs – a Norwegian course
norskkurset – the Norwegian course (a specific one)

Why is it norskkurset (definite) and not et norskkurs (indefinite)?

Using the definite form usually means both the speaker and listener know which course is meant:

norskkurset = the Norwegian course
(for example, the one at a particular school or at a certain level)

Using the indefinite form would be more general:

Han vil melde seg opp til et norskkurs i morgen.
→ He wants to sign up for a Norwegian course tomorrow
(any course, not a specific one you both have in mind)

So the choice between norskkurset and et norskkurs is about specific vs. nonspecific.

Why is i morgen at the end of the sentence? Can it go at the beginning?

Time adverbials like i morgen often come near the end, and that’s very natural:

Han vil melde seg opp til norskkurset i morgen.

But you can also put i morgen first for emphasis (“tomorrow” is the topic):

I morgen vil han melde seg opp til norskkurset.

This works because Norwegian main clauses have V2 word order (the finite verb must be in second position):

I morgen (first element)
vil (verb in 2nd place)
han melde seg opp til norskkurset (rest)

What you cannot say is:

I morgen han vil melde seg opp… (verb is not in 2nd position → wrong)

Is this sentence talking about the future? Could I use skal or the present tense instead of vil?

Yes, it refers to the future (tomorrow). Norwegian doesn’t have a dedicated future tense like English; instead it uses:

Modal + infinitive
- Han vil melde seg opp… (intention / will)
- Han skal melde seg opp… (plan / arrangement, often slightly stronger or more scheduled)
Present tense + time expression
- Han melder seg opp til norskkurset i morgen.

All three are possible, with nuances:

vil – his wish/intention
skal – plan/obligation/arrangement
present + i morgen – a scheduled future action, somewhat neutral and common in speech

Can I drop opp and just say melde seg til norskkurset?

Normally, no. You would usually say either:

melde seg opp til norskkurset
melde seg på norskkurset

Melde seg til is used in other contexts, like volunteering:

melde seg til tjeneste – volunteer for service
melde seg til krigstjeneste – volunteer for military service

But for signing up for a course, opp til (in this expression) or på is the natural choice.

What is the difference between i morgen and writing it as one word imorgen?

Standard Norwegian writes this as two words:

i morgen – tomorrow

Writing imorgen as one word is not standard Bokmål or Nynorsk, even though you might see it informally (for example in texts or social media). In correct written Norwegian, always use i morgen.

How do you pronounce melde and norskkurset? Any tricky sounds?

Very roughly (Bokmål-style pronunciation):

melde:
- mel- like mel in “melon”
- -de with a soft d, often almost like “meh-le” or “mel-de” with a light d.
norskkurset:
- stress on the first part: NORSK-kurset
- orsk: rsk cluster is pronounced together, with a “sh”-like sound in many accents (something like noshk).
- kurs: like koors (u like in “pull” but longer)
- -et: often reduced, like a very light “eh” or “e”.

So something like: HAN vil MEL-de seg OPP til NORSK-kur-s(e)t i MOR-gen. (capital letters = stressed syllables).