Musikken får ham til å slappe av.

The music makes him relax.

Breakdown of Musikken får ham til å slappe av.

• musikken: the music
• slappe av: to relax
• ham: him
• få ... til å: to make

Questions & Answers about Musikken får ham til å slappe av.

Why is it ham and not han in this sentence?

Norwegian has two forms for he / him in Bokmål:

• han – subject form (like English he)
• ham – object form (like English him)

In standard written Bokmål, you normally use:

• Han sover. = He is sleeping. (subject)
• Jeg ser ham. = I see him. (object)

In Musikken får ham til å slappe av, ham is the object of the verb får – the music affects him – so the object form is used.

In everyday spoken Norwegian, many people say han in both positions (subject and object), so you will often hear:

• Musikken får han til å slappe av.

This is very common in speech, but in careful / formal writing, ham as the object is preferred.

---

What does the construction får … til å mean here?

Få (noen) til å (gjøre noe) is a very common causative construction in Norwegian. It usually corresponds to English:

• make someone do something
• get someone to do something
• sometimes cause someone to do something

So:

• Musikken får ham til å slappe av.
  = The music makes him relax.
  = The music gets him to relax.
  (i.e., the music causes him to relax)

Pattern:

• få + person (object) + til å + infinitive
  
  • Hun fikk ham til å le. = She made him laugh.
  • Vi får dem til å forstå. = We get them to understand.

So here får … til å expresses that the music is causing a reaction in him.

---

Why do we need til before å slappe av? Could we say får ham å slappe av?

No, you cannot say får ham å slappe av in Norwegian; that is ungrammatical.

The preposition til is an essential part of the pattern:

• få (noen) til å (gjøre noe)

You can think of it as a fixed structure:

• få = get / make
• noen = someone (object)
• til å = to (do something)
• gjøre noe = the action in infinitive

Some more examples:

• Læreren fikk elevene til å gjøre leksene.
  = The teacher got the pupils to do the homework.

• Kan du få ham til å ringe meg?
  = Can you get him to call me?

So in this construction, til must be there; it does not translate directly word‑for‑word into English, but it belongs to the idiomatic pattern.

---

What exactly does slappe av mean, and why is it two words?

Slappe av is a two‑word verb phrase that means to relax.

• slappe on its own is not used as a full verb in modern standard Norwegian.
• slappe av together functions like a single verb: to relax, to unwind.

You always keep slappe and av together (you don’t insert other words between them):

• Jeg liker å slappe av hjemme. = I like to relax at home.
• Hun prøver å slappe av før eksamen. = She tries to relax before the exam.

Related words:

• avslappet = relaxed (adjective)
• avslappende = relaxing (adjective/participle), e.g. avslappende musikk = relaxing music

There is also a verb avslappe, but it is rare and sounds formal/technical; in everyday language you use slappe av.

---

Why do we use slappe and not slapper in this sentence?

Slappe is the infinitive form, and slapper is the present tense.

In Norwegian, after the infinitive marker å, you must use the infinitive form:

• å slappe av = to relax
• å spise = to eat
• å lese = to read

So:

• Musikken får ham til å slappe av.
  = The music makes him relax. (relax is also an infinitive in English)

If you want a normal present tense sentence without å, then you use slapper:

• Han slapper av. = He is relaxing / He relaxes.
• Når han hører musikk, slapper han av. = When he listens to music, he relaxes.

So the rule is: å + infinitive → å slappe, not å slapper.

---

Could I say Musikk får ham til å slappe av without -en on musikken?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Musikk får ham til å slappe av.
  = Music makes him relax. (music in general)

• Musikken får ham til å slappe av.
  = The music makes him relax. (some specific music that is being referred to – e.g. the music playing now, or the music you are talking about)

Norwegian usually uses the definite ending -en (or -a, -et, etc.) instead of a separate article (the). So:

• musikk = music (indefinite / general)
• musikken = the music (definite / specific)

Which one you choose depends on whether you mean music in general or particular music.

---

What is the basic word order in this sentence? Can I move ham or til å slappe av somewhere else?

The neutral word order here is:

• Musikken (subject)
• får (verb)
• ham (object)
• til å slappe av (infinitive phrase showing what he ends up doing)

So: Musikken får ham til å slappe av.

You cannot split the til å slappe av part in arbitrary ways. These are not correct:

• ✗ Musikken får til å slappe av ham.
• ✗ Musikken får ham slappe av. (missing til)

You can alter word order for emphasis using other constructions, for example:

• Det er musikken som får ham til å slappe av.
  = It’s the music that makes him relax.

But within the phrase får ham til å slappe av, you keep the order as it is.

---

Could I express the same idea with gjør or another verb instead of får?

Yes, there are several natural alternatives, each with a slightly different feel:

1. Musikken gjør at han slapper av.

   • Literally: The music makes that he relaxes.
   • Very similar meaning, a bit more neutral / descriptive than får ham til å.

2. Musikken roer ham ned.

   • Literally: The music calms him down.
   • Focuses on calming, more specific than just "relax".

3. Musikken får ham til å roe seg ned.

   • The music makes him calm down. (with reflexive verb roe seg ned)

4. Musikken virker avslappende på ham.

   • The music has a relaxing effect on him. (more formal)

The original sentence with får ham til å slappe av is very common and natural, and corresponds closely to English makes him relax / gets him to relax.

---

Why is there an å here at all, when English just says “makes him relax” without “to”?

English causative verbs like make, let, help often take a bare infinitive (without to):

• make him relax
• let her go
• help them find it

Norwegian does not work like that. In Norwegian, infinitives (almost) always take å in such constructions:

• få ham til å slappe av
• la henne gå
• hjelpe dem å finne det

So where English uses a bare infinitive after make, Norwegian typically still uses å with the infinitive verb. That’s why you need å slappe av, not just slappe av.

---

Is a reflexive pronoun needed with slappe av, like slappe seg av?

No, slappe av is not reflexive, and you should not add seg (or meg, deg, etc.):

• Correct:

  • Jeg prøver å slappe av. = I’m trying to relax.
  • Han klarer ikke å slappe av. = He can’t relax.

• Incorrect:

  • ✗ Jeg prøver å slappe meg av.
  • ✗ Han klarer ikke å slappe seg av.

Some Norwegian verbs are reflexive (e.g. kose seg, skynde seg, roe seg ned), but slappe av is not one of them.

---

What tense is får, and what are the other main forms of å få?

Får here is the present tense of the verb å få.

Main forms (Bokmål):

• Infinitive: å få
• Present: får
• Past (preterite): fikk
• Past participle: fått

Examples:

• Jeg får en gave. = I get a present. (present)
• Jeg fikk en gave. = I got a present. (past)
• Jeg har fått en gave. = I have gotten a present. (present perfect)

In the causative construction:

• Musikken får ham til å slappe av. = The music makes him relax.
• Musikken fikk ham til å slappe av. = The music made him relax.
• Musikken har fått ham til å slappe av. = The music has made him relax.