Breakdown of Han hører på en rolig podkast om kvelden i stedet for å se på TV.
Questions & Answers about Han hører på en rolig podkast om kvelden i stedet for å se på TV.
In Norwegian, when you listen to something like music, radio, or a podcast, you normally use høre på:
- høre på musikk – to listen to music
- høre på radio – to listen to the radio
- høre på en podkast – to listen to a podcast
høre alone is more neutral, like “to hear” in English:
- Jeg hører lyder. – I hear sounds.
So høre på = “listen to”, and høre = “hear”.
In this sentence, he is actively listening, so hører på is required.
Norwegian normally requires an article with a singular, countable noun when it’s indefinite, similar to English:
- en podkast – a podcast
- en rolig podkast – a calm/relaxing podcast
Leaving out the article (rolig podkast) is usually either ungrammatical or sounds like a sort of label/title, not a normal noun phrase.
Compare:
- Han hører på en rolig podkast. – natural, everyday sentence.
- Han jobber med rolig musikk. – here musikk is uncountable, so no article.
Since podkast is a countable thing (one podcast, two podcasts), you need en in the indefinite singular.
Podkast is usually treated as a masculine noun, so:
- en podkast – indefinite singular
- podkasten – definite singular
- podkaster – indefinite plural
- podkastene – definite plural
You will also see the spelling podcast, especially in informal or English-influenced contexts. Grammar is the same:
- en podcast / podkast
- en rolig podcast / podkast
But podkast is the more Norwegian form.
om kvelden here means “in the evenings / at night (in general, as a habit)”.
Rough differences:
om kvelden – “in the evenings” in a general, habitual sense
- Han hører på en podkast om kvelden. – He usually does this in the evenings.
på kvelden – can also mean “in the evening”, often a bit more concrete, like on that day / that evening, depending on context
- Vi skal møtes på kvelden. – We’ll meet in the evening (today/that day).
hver kveld – “every evening” (more explicitly “every” than om kvelden)
- Han hører på podkast hver kveld. – every single evening.
In many contexts, om kvelden and på kvelden can overlap, but om is very common for regular, habitual actions tied to a time of day:
om morgenen, om ettermiddagen, om kvelden, om natta.
Norwegian often uses a definite singular time-of-day word to express a repeated/habitual action:
- om morgenen – in the mornings
- om ettermiddagen – in the afternoons
- om kvelden – in the evenings
- om natta – at night
So om kvelden literally looks like “in the evening”, but in practice it often means “in the evenings” as a general routine. You do not say om kveldene in this sense.
In Norwegian, when you use a verb after expressions like i stedet for, you introduce it with å (the infinitive marker):
- i stedet for å se på TV – instead of watching TV
- i stedet for å lese – instead of reading
Leaving out å (i stedet for se på TV) is incorrect in standard Norwegian.
Pattern:
- i stedet for + å + infinitive
- i stedet for å spise – instead of eating
- i stedet for å gå – instead of going
With TV, Norwegians most often say se på TV:
- se på TV – watch TV
This is similar to English “look at / watch”.
se TV does occur, especially in informal speech, but se på TV is more standard and natural.
So you get parallel structures:
- høre på en podkast – listen to a podcast
- se på TV – watch TV
You can say Han lytter til en rolig podkast, and it’s grammatically correct.
Differences in nuance:
- høre på is the most common, neutral way to say listen to in everyday language.
- lytte (til) often sounds a bit more deliberate or “active”, sometimes slightly more formal or poetic:
- lytte til musikk – listen (carefully) to music
- lytte til læreren – listen to the teacher (pay attention)
So your original sentence with hører på is the most natural daily choice, but lytter til is fine, just a bit more marked.
hører is the present tense of å høre.
Norwegian present tense covers both:
habitual/general present:
- Han hører på en podkast om kvelden.
– He (usually) listens to a podcast in the evenings.
- Han hører på en podkast om kvelden.
present right now (depending on context):
- Han hører på en podkast nå. – He is listening to a podcast now.
There is no separate continuous form like English “is listening”. Context decides whether it’s habitual or happening right now. In your sentence, om kvelden makes it sound habitual.
In en rolig podkast:
- en – masculine indefinite article
- rolig – adjective
- podkast – masculine noun
For most adjectives like rolig, the indefinite singular form is the same for masculine and feminine and often also for neuter:
- en rolig podkast (m)
- ei rolig jente (f)
- et rolig barn (n)
In the plural, you add -e:
- rolige podkaster – calm/relaxing podcasts
In the definite form (with -en/-a/-et on the noun), you also add -e to the adjective:
- den rolige podkasten – the calm podcast
Both forms exist in real usage:
- i stedet for – split form, more traditional and recommended in standard writing
- istedenfor – written as one word; common in informal texts, may be seen as less formal
In careful/standard Norwegian, it’s best to write i stedet for as separate words, as in your sentence.
This is very natural as it stands.
You can move some adverbials without breaking the grammar, but the rhythm and emphasis change:
- Han hører på en rolig podkast om kvelden i stedet for å se på TV. (neutral)
- Om kvelden hører han på en rolig podkast i stedet for å se på TV. (slightly more focus on om kvelden)
But you must keep the verb in second position in main clauses:
- Om kvelden hører han … (correct: hører is the second element)
- Om kvelden han hører … (incorrect word order)
So the original sentence has correct and very natural word order for everyday Norwegian.