Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Jeg lærer meditasjon fordi jeg vil sove bedre om natten. - I am learning meditation because I want to sleep better at night.

In your sentence, Jeg lærer meditasjon, the subject is jeg and there is no indirect object like barna, so it is understood as I am learning meditation, not I am teaching meditation.

Context usually makes it clear whether lære = learn or teach.

Why is it Jeg lærer meditasjon and not Jeg lærer meg meditasjon?

Norwegian can use a reflexive form lære seg noe (Jeg lærer meg meditasjon) to emphasize “I’m teaching myself X”, but it’s not required whenever you learn something.

Common patterns:

Jeg lærer norsk. – completely normal.
Jeg lærer meg norsk. – possible, but sounds more like “I’m teaching myself Norwegian.”

So:

Jeg lærer meditasjon. – fine and natural.
Jeg lærer meg meditasjon. – grammatically OK, but adds a nuance of “teaching myself” and may sound a bit heavier or more old‑fashioned in some contexts.

Would it be more natural to say Jeg lærer å meditere instead of Jeg lærer meditasjon?

Both are understandable, but Jeg lærer å meditere is often more idiomatic when talking about learning an activity:

Jeg lærer å meditere. – I am learning to meditate.
Jeg lærer meditasjon. – I am learning meditation (as a subject/practice).

Jeg lærer meditasjon suggests you’re learning the practice or discipline of meditation, almost like a “subject” (similar to Jeg lærer matematikk). Jeg lærer å meditere focuses more on the action of meditating.

In everyday speech, Jeg lærer å meditere would probably be what most people say.

Why is there no article before meditasjon? Why not Jeg lærer en meditasjon?

Meditasjon here is an uncountable / abstract noun, like musikk, matematikk, grammatikk:

Jeg lærer meditasjon.
Jeg lærer matematikk.
Jeg lærer grammatikk.

You don’t learn one meditation; you’re learning meditation as a general practice. That’s why there’s no article (a/the).

You would only use an article with meditasjon if you were talking about a specific instance:

Vi gjorde en meditasjon i dag. – We did a meditation today. (a specific exercise)

How can Jeg lærer mean “I am learning”? There’s no “-ing” form.

Norwegian doesn’t have a separate continuous form like English “am learning”. The present tense covers both:

Jeg lærer norsk.
→ I learn Norwegian / I am learning Norwegian.

The exact meaning comes from context. In this sentence, it clearly means a current, ongoing process, so you translate it as I am learning.

What exactly does fordi mean, and does it affect word order?

Fordi means because and introduces a subordinate clause.

Jeg lærer meditasjon fordi jeg vil sove bedre om natten.
– Main clause: Jeg lærer meditasjon
– Subordinate clause: fordi jeg vil sove bedre om natten

In a fordi‑clause, the normal order is subject + verb (not the inverted word order you often get in main clauses):

Correct: fordi jeg vil sove bedre
Incorrect: fordi vil jeg sove bedre

So fordi behaves like English “because” in meaning, but the word‑order rules are important: keep subject before verb inside the fordi‑clause.

Could I move the fordi‑clause to the front: Fordi jeg vil sove bedre om natten, lærer jeg meditasjon?

Yes, that’s correct Norwegian, and it sounds quite natural:

Fordi jeg vil sove bedre om natten, lærer jeg meditasjon.

Here, the subordinate clause comes first. After such a clause, the main clause usually has inversion (verb before subject):

…, lærer jeg meditasjon. (verb lærer before subject jeg)

So both are fine, with slightly different emphasis:

Jeg lærer meditasjon fordi jeg vil sove bedre om natten.
→ focus on what you’re doing (learning meditation), then give the reason.
Fordi jeg vil sove bedre om natten, lærer jeg meditasjon.
→ focus first on the reason, then say what you’re doing.

Why is there no å before sove in jeg vil sove?

In Norwegian, after modal verbs like:

vil (want/will),
kan (can),
må (must),
skal (shall/going to),

you normally do not use å before the infinitive.

So you say:

jeg vil sove – I want to sleep
jeg kan sove – I can sleep
jeg må sove – I must sleep
jeg skal sove – I’m going to sleep

But with non‑modal verbs you use å:

Jeg liker å sove. – I like to sleep.
Jeg prøver å sove. – I’m trying to sleep.

Does vil here mean “want” or “will”? What’s the nuance of jeg vil sove?

In this sentence, vil means want:

jeg vil sove → I want to sleep

Vil can mean either:

want to:
- Jeg vil sove. – I want to sleep.
A kind of future (“will”), though Norwegian often prefers skal or just present tense for clear future meaning:
- I morgen vil det regne. – Tomorrow it will rain.

If you want to make the “want” meaning extra clear and a bit softer, you can also say:

Jeg har lyst til å sove bedre om natten. – I feel like / I would like to sleep better at night.

Why is it bedre and not something like mer bra?

Bedre is the comparative form of god (good) / bra (good), and it’s irregular:

god/bra – good
bedre – better
best – best

So you say:

Jeg vil sove bedre. – I want to sleep better.

You wouldn’t normally say mer bra here; bedre is the standard comparative.

What does om natten mean exactly, and why not i natt or på natten?

Om natten means at night / during the night in general – a habitual or general time, not one specific night.

Jeg vil sove bedre om natten.
→ I want to sleep better at night (in general).

Other options:

i natt – tonight (this specific coming night):
- Jeg vil sove godt i natt. – I want to sleep well tonight.
på natten – can occur in some dialects/contexts, but om natten is the most standard for “at night” in general.

So for a general statement about your usual nights, om natten is the natural choice.

What’s the difference between natten and natta?

Both mean “the night”, but they differ in style/register.

natten – written standard (Bokmål), more formal/neutral
natta – more colloquial / everyday speech, also a standard Bokmål form

Examples:

Jeg vil sove bedre om natten. – neutral, standard writing.
Jeg vil sove bedre om natta. – sounds more informal/spoken.

You’ll often hear natta in speech (and in phrases like god natt(a)), but natten is very common in written Norwegian.