Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Jeg går på yoga hver tirsdag for å slappe av.

Yes, å gå basically means “to walk”, but it is also the default everyday verb for “go” when you talk about regularly going somewhere (especially nearby or as a routine).

Jeg går på yoga hver tirsdag.
= I go to yoga every Tuesday. (habit, routine)
Jeg går på jobb.
= I go to work. (often implies by walking, but not always heavily stressed)

If you want to emphasise travelling (by car, bus, plane, etc.) rather than just the routine, you can use å dra or å reise:

Jeg drar på ferie. – I’m going (leaving) on vacation.
Jeg reiser til Norge. – I’m travelling to Norway.

In your sentence, går is just the natural, neutral choice for a regular activity like a weekly yoga class.

Why is it på yoga and not til yoga or just yoga?

The preposition på is often used in Norwegian when you talk about attending an activity, event, or class:

gå på skole – go to school
være på kurs – be at a course
gå på kino – go to the cinema
gå på yoga – (regularly) go to yoga (classes)

So Jeg går på yoga literally feels like “I attend yoga (classes)”.

Til is more about movement towards a place:

Jeg går til skolen. – I walk to the school (physically going there).
Jeg drar til byen. – I go to town.

If you said Jeg går til yoga, it would sound more like physically walking to a place called “yoga” rather than “I attend yoga classes”.

You also wouldn’t normally say just Jeg går yoga — Norwegian needs a preposition here; på is the idiomatic one.

Why is it hver tirsdag and not hver tirsdager?

In Norwegian, with hver (every/each), you use the singular form of the noun:

hver tirsdag – every Tuesday
hver dag – every day
hver uke – every week
hver måned – every month

So you do not pluralize the noun after hver.
Therefore: hver tirsdag, not hver tirsdager.

Why is tirsdag not capitalized like “Tuesday” in English?

In Norwegian, days of the week are not capitalized (unless they are at the start of a sentence):

mandag, tirsdag, onsdag, torsdag, fredag, lørdag, søndag

So Jeg går på yoga hver tirsdag is correct.
You only use a capital letter if tirsdag is the first word of the sentence:

Tirsdag går jeg på yoga.

What exactly does for å mean here, and when do you use that structure?

For å is a common way to express purpose: “in order to / to (do something)”.

Structure:
[Main clause] + for å + [verb in infinitive]

In your sentence:

for å slappe av = in order to relax / to relax

Other examples:

Jeg trener for å bli sterkere. – I exercise to get stronger.
Hun jobber mye for å tjene mer penger. – She works a lot to earn more money.

If you just say å slappe av, without for, it usually does not express purpose directly after a full clause like this. After a verb of liking/wanting, yes:

Jeg liker å slappe av. – I like to relax.
Jeg vil slappe av. – I want to relax.

But for “I do X to (in order to) do Y”, you typically need for å:

Why is slappe av two words? Could I just say slappe?

In Norwegian, slappe av is a two‑word verbal expression that together means “to relax”.

å slappe av – to relax
Jeg slapper av. – I am relaxing / I relax.

You normally cannot drop av:

Jeg vil slappe. – sounds incomplete/wrong in standard Norwegian.
You must say Jeg vil slappe av.

So think of slappe av as one unit, similar to English phrasal verbs like “chill out” or “calm down”.

Could I move parts of the sentence around, like Hver tirsdag går jeg på yoga for å slappe av?

Yes. Norwegian word order is fairly flexible for adverbials (time, place, purpose), but with some rules.

All of these are correct and natural:

Jeg går på yoga hver tirsdag for å slappe av.
Hver tirsdag går jeg på yoga for å slappe av.
Jeg går på yoga for å slappe av hver tirsdag. (less usual, but possible)

Key rule: if you put something other than the subject first (e.g. Hver tirsdag), then the verb must come second:

Hver tirsdag går jeg på yoga …
(Time expression first → verb går still in second position → subject jeg after that.)

If you said: Hver tirsdag jeg går på yoga …, that would be wrong.

Why is the verb går in simple present? In English we might say “I go / I’m going”.

Norwegian present tense (presens) covers:

Habits / routines (like English “I go”)
- Jeg går på yoga hver tirsdag. – I go to yoga every Tuesday.
Right now / ongoing actions (like English “I am going / I’m doing”)
- Jeg går på jobb nå. – I am walking/going to work now.

So Norwegian doesn’t need a separate continuous form (“am going”); the same present form går is used for both habitual and ongoing actions. The time expression (hver tirsdag) tells you it’s a routine here.

Could I say Jeg gjør yoga or Jeg trener yoga instead of Jeg går på yoga?

They are not very natural in this context:

Jeg gjør yoga – grammatically possible, but sounds a bit odd; Norwegians don’t usually say it that way.
Jeg trener yoga – unusual; you’d more often trener (work out) something like styrke (strength), fotball, etc.

The most idiomatic ways to talk about attending a yoga class are:

Jeg går på yoga. – I go to yoga (class).
Jeg driver med yoga. – I do/practise yoga (more general involvement, not just classes).
Jeg trener yoga is not wrong in all contexts, but it’s not the default everyday phrase.

For a regular weekly class, Jeg går på yoga is what people normally say.

Could I say på hver tirsdag instead of hver tirsdag?

No, not in this sentence. You say:

Jeg går på yoga hver tirsdag. ✅

You normally don’t use a preposition before hver + weekday when you mean “every Tuesday”.

You might see på tirsdag without hver, which means “on Tuesday” (one specific Tuesday):

Jeg skal på yoga på tirsdag. – I’m going to yoga on Tuesday (this coming Tuesday).

So:

hver tirsdag – every Tuesday ✅
på tirsdag – on Tuesday (one specific Tuesday) ✅
på hver tirsdag – sounds wrong/unnatural in this context ❌