Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Instruktøren ber oss sitte i en sirkel på gulvet. - The instructor asks us to sit in a circle on the floor.

to ask / to request (someone to do something)
- Pattern: be + (person) + (om å) + infinitive
- Example: Læreren ber oss være stille. – The teacher asks us to be quiet.
to pray (to God, etc.)
- Example: Hun ber til Gud. – She prays to God.

In your sentence, Instruktøren ber oss sitte i en sirkel på gulvet, ber means “asks” / “requests”, not “prays”.

This is different from å spørre, which is used when you ask a question:

Læreren spør oss om vi forstår. – The teacher asks us if we understand.

Why is it ber oss sitte and not ber oss om å sitte? Are om and å optional?

Both of these are grammatically correct:

Instruktøren ber oss sitte i en sirkel på gulvet.
Instruktøren ber oss om å sitte i en sirkel på gulvet.

The underlying pattern is:

be noen (om å) gjøre noe
(ask someone (to) do something)

Notes:

om å can be included or omitted after ber in everyday Norwegian.
Without om å (ber oss sitte) sounds a bit shorter and more spoken/neutral.
With om å (ber oss om å sitte) can sound slightly more explicit or formal, but is also very common.

One form that is not standard is:

✗ Instruktøren ber oss å sitte … (you normally need om if you use å)

Why is it oss and not vi in this sentence?

Vi and oss are two different forms of “we”:

vi = subject form
oss = object form

In Norwegian:

Subject pronouns: jeg, du, han, hun, vi, dere, de
Object pronouns: meg, deg, ham/han, henne, oss, dere, dem

In the sentence:

Instruktøren is the subject (the one doing the asking).
oss is the object (the people being asked).

So you must say:

Instruktøren ber oss … – The instructor asks us …
not
✗ Instruktøren ber vi …

Why is it Instruktøren with -en at the end? Why not use a separate word for “the”?

Norwegian normally shows definiteness (the-word “the”) by adding an ending to the noun, not with a separate word like English the.

For instruktør (“instructor”):

en instruktør – an instructor (indefinite singular)
instruktøren – the instructor (definite singular)
instruktører – instructors (indefinite plural)
instruktørene – the instructors (definite plural)

So Instruktøren literally is “instructor-the”, which corresponds to English “the instructor”.

You do not say:

✗ den instruktøren for simple “the instructor” in standard Bokmål (unless you’re adding extra emphasis or a modifier: den nye instruktøren – the new instructor).

Why is it i en sirkel and not på en sirkel?

The choice of preposition reflects the idea of being inside the shape of the circle:

i en sirkel – in a circle (inside the circular arrangement)
på en sirkel would suggest being on top of a physical circle (e.g. printed on the floor), which is not what is meant here.

So:

sitte i en sirkel – sit in a circle (people positioned around a circular shape)
stå i en ring – stand in a ring

You use i for being in/inside an area or formation, and på for being on a surface.

Why do we say på gulvet and not på gulv or i gulvet?

There are two separate issues: preposition and definite form.

Preposition: på vs. i

på gulvet – on the floor (on the surface)
i gulvet – in the floor (inside the material, e.g. “a hole in the floor” = et hull i gulvet)

Because we’re sitting on top of the floor, the correct preposition is på.

Definiteness: gulv vs. gulvet

gulv – a floor / floors, in general
gulvet – the floor (the specific floor in this room)

In this situation, we are clearly talking about the floor of the room we’re in, so Norwegian normally uses the definite form:

sitte på gulvet – sit on the floor

På gulv without the article is only used in more abstract or general statements (and often sounds formal):

Det er ikke lov å sitte på gulv. – It is not allowed to sit on floors. (very general rule)

What is the difference between å sitte, å sette seg, and å sitte ned here?

These are related but not identical:

å sitte – “to sit”, state (how you are positioned)
- Instruktøren ber oss sitte i en sirkel …
  Focus on the resulting state: we are (to be) sitting in a circle.
å sette seg (ned) – “to sit down”, movement (from standing to sitting)
- Instruktøren ber oss sette oss (ned) i en sirkel på gulvet.
  Focus on the action of sitting down into that position.
å sitte ned – literally “to sit down”, but usually used as:
- Sett deg ned! / Sett dere ned! – Sit down! (imperative)
- Less common as å sitte ned in infinitive.

In instructions, you could hear either:

Instruktøren ber oss sette oss i en sirkel på gulvet. (emphasising the action “sit down”)
Instruktøren ber oss sitte i en sirkel på gulvet. (emphasising being seated in that formation)

Both are understandable; the given sentence is perfectly natural.

Could you also say Instruktøren ber at vi sitter i en sirkel på gulvet?

In standard Norwegian, this version is not idiomatic without om.

You have two natural options:

Infinitive construction (most common in speech):
- Instruktøren ber oss (om å) sitte i en sirkel på gulvet.
om at
- clause (more formal, written style):
- Instruktøren ber om at vi sitter i en sirkel på gulvet.

So:

✗ Instruktøren ber at vi sitter … (non-standard)
✓ Instruktøren ber om at vi sitter … (formal, but correct)
✓ Instruktøren ber oss sitte … (natural, everyday)

Are there other natural ways to say “sit in a circle on the floor” in Norwegian?

Yes, a very common alternative is to use ring instead of sirkel:

Instruktøren ber oss sitte i ring på gulvet.
– The instructor asks us to sit in a ring on the floor.

Some variants you might hear:

Instruktøren ber oss sette oss i ring på gulvet.
Kan dere sette dere i ring på gulvet? – Can you sit (down) in a circle on the floor?
Barna sitter i ring på gulvet. – The children are sitting in a circle on the floor.

I ring is a very common idiomatic expression for people forming a circle.

How do you pronounce Instruktøren and gulvet?

Approximate pronunciation (Bokmål, standard-ish):

Instruktøren
- IPA: [ɪnstrʉkˈtøːrən]
- Rough English guide: in-struuk-TØØ-ren
  - in – like English in
  - struk – u is a fronted “oo” sound [ʉ], somewhat between ee and oo
  - tør – ø like French peu or German schön
  - final -en is unstressed, like a quick -en
gulvet
- IPA: [ˈgʉlvə] (the t is often very weak or almost silent)
- Rough English guide: GUL-ve
  - gu – again [ʉ], that fronted “oo” sound
  - lv – both consonants pronounced
  - final -e(t) is a short, neutral vowel (schwa), like the a in sofa

Stress is on the first syllable for gulvet and on -struk- / -tør- for Instruktøren (the second-to-last syllable).