Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Jeg senker lydnivået på podkasten mens jeg leser. - I lower the sound level on the podcast while I read.

“senker” comes from “å senke”, which means “to lower”, often in a fairly neutral or literal way: lowering something from a higher to a lower level.

In this sentence, “Jeg senker lydnivået” = “I lower the volume level.”

You could also say:

Jeg skrur ned lyden (på podkasten). – I turn down the sound (of the podcast).

Difference in feel:

senke – focuses on the level going down (more neutral, a bit more “written”/formal).
skru ned – everyday, colloquial, literally “to screw down,” used a lot with volume, heat, etc.

Both are correct; “skru ned lyden” is more common in casual speech, but “senker lydnivået” is perfectly natural and clear.

Why is it “lydnivået” and not just “lydnivå”?

“lydnivået” is the definite form: “the sound level / the volume level.”

lydnivå = a sound level / sound level (indefinite)
lydnivået = the sound level (definite)

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually a suffix on the noun:

et nivå → nivået (the level)
et lydnivå → lydnivået (the sound level)

Since in English you say “I lower the volume”, Norwegian mirrors that with the definite form:
Jeg senker lydnivået … = I lower the (specific) volume level …

Is “lydnivå” one word in Norwegian? Why isn’t it written as two words like in English?

Yes, “lydnivå” is one word: it’s a compound noun made from:

lyd = sound
nivå = level

Norwegian (like German) normally joins nouns together to form compounds:

lydnivå – sound level
lydbok – audiobook (sound + book)
barnehage – kindergarten (children + garden)
fotballkamp – football match (football + match)

English often keeps these as two words (“sound level”), but Norwegian prefers one compound word.

Why is it “på podkasten”? Why not “av podkasten” or something else?

The preposition “på” is used very often with media and devices in Norwegian.

Here, “lydnivået på podkasten” literally means “the sound level on the podcast.”
You’ll hear similar patterns:

lyden på TV-en – the sound on the TV
volumet på telefonen – the volume on the phone
lyden på videoen – the sound on the video

“av” usually means “of/from/off” in a more literal sense and wouldn’t sound natural here.
So the idiomatic way is:

lydnivået på podkasten = the volume of the podcast (literally: on the podcast).

Why is it “podkasten” and not “podcasten”? Are both correct?

Norwegian has a Norwegianized spelling and a more English-like spelling:

podkast (Norwegian spelling)
podcast (English spelling, also used in Norwegian)

With the Norwegian spelling podkast (a masculine noun), the definite form is:

en podkast → podkasten (the podcast)

With the more English spelling podcast, you usually get:

en podcast → podcasten (the podcast)

So:

podkasten = the (Norwegian-spelled) podcast
podcasten = the (English-spelled) podcast

Both forms exist in real use, but “podkast/podkasten” is the official Norwegian form.

Why is the verb in both parts present tense: “jeg senker … mens jeg leser”? Could it be past?

The sentence is in the present tense because it describes something that happens now or as a general habit:

Jeg senker lydnivået … mens jeg leser.
= I lower the volume while I read / when I am reading.

You could put it in the past:

Jeg senket lydnivået på podkasten mens jeg leste.
= I lowered the volume while I was reading.

The important thing is that both verbs match in time:

Present + present: senker … leser
Past + past: senket … leste

The conjunction “mens” shows the two actions are simultaneous, so they should be in the same tense.

What does “mens” mean exactly, and how is it different from “når” and “da”?

“mens” = “while” / “whereas” and expresses two actions happening at the same time.

In this sentence:

mens jeg leser – while I read / while I am reading

Comparison:

mens – while (simultaneous actions)
- Jeg hører på musikk mens jeg lager middag.
  I listen to music while I make dinner.
når – when (general, repeated, or future time)
- Når jeg leser, senker jeg lydnivået.
  When I read, I lower the volume. (a habit)
da – when (one specific event in the past)
- Da jeg leste i går, senket jeg lydnivået.
  When I was reading yesterday, I lowered the volume.

So “mens” is the natural choice for “while” in the sense of overlapping actions.

Could I also say “når jeg leser” instead of “mens jeg leser” here?

Yes, but the nuance changes slightly.

mens jeg leser = while I am reading, focusing on the simultaneous nature of the actions.
når jeg leser = when(ever) I read, often more like a habitual condition.

So:

Jeg senker lydnivået på podkasten mens jeg leser.
= I lower the volume while I’m reading (emphasis on at the same time).
Jeg senker lydnivået på podkasten når jeg leser.
= Whenever I read, I lower the volume (focus on routine/condition).

Both are grammatically correct; “mens” is a bit more direct for “while.”

What does “leser” cover in Norwegian? Does it mean both “to read” and “to study”?

The verb “å lese” mainly means “to read”:

Jeg leser en bok. – I’m reading a book.

However, in some contexts it can also mean “to study”, especially about formal education:

Jeg leser jus. – I study law.
Hun leser medisin. – She studies medicine.

In “mens jeg leser”, without context it most naturally means “while I am reading (something)”. The “studying” meaning usually appears when you say what you study (law, medicine, etc.).

Is the word order “lydnivået på podkasten” fixed, or could I say “på podkasten lydnivået”?

The natural word order is:

(Jeg senker) lydnivået på podkasten.
[verb] + [direct object] + [prepositional phrase]

Putting the prepositional phrase before the object:

✗ Jeg senker på podkasten lydnivået.

sounds very unnatural in standard Norwegian.

General rule: in a simple clause, the direct object (what you lower) normally comes before the prepositional phrase that gives extra information (on/at/with what):

Jeg leser boka på bussen. – I read the book on the bus.
Jeg skriver melding på telefonen. – I write a message on the phone.

So: lydnivået på podkasten is the correct, natural order.

Why isn’t “jeg” capitalized like English “I”? Is that always the case?

In Norwegian, the first person singular pronoun “jeg” is never capitalized (except at the beginning of a sentence):

Jeg bor i Oslo. – I live in Oslo. (capitalized only because it starts the sentence)
Han sa at jeg bor i Oslo. – He said that I live in Oslo.

Unlike English, Norwegian does not capitalize “I” by default. So “jeg” is lowercase in the middle of a sentence.

How do you pronounce the tricky words “senker”, “lydnivået”, and “podkasten”?

Approximate pronunciations (in simple English-style hints):

senker:
- sen like “seng” but with a shorter e,
- ker a bit like “care” but with k at the start:
  → roughly: SEN-ker
lydnivået:
- lyd – similar to “leed” but with rounded lips on the vowel (like German ü),
- ni – as in “knee”,
- vå – like “vo” in “vote” but with a longer open å sound,
- -et – often very weak, like a short “eh”:
  → LYÜD-nee-VOH-eh(t) (stress on nivå)
podkasten:
- pod – similar to English “pod”, but a shorter o,
- kas – like “cuss” but with a as in “father”,
- ten – a bit like “ten”:
  → POD-kahs-ten (stress on pod)

Native-like pronunciation will vary slightly by dialect, but this will be well understood.