Hun bruker et nettbrett til å se yoga-videoer på nettet.

She uses a tablet to watch yoga videos on the internet.

Breakdown of Hun bruker et nettbrett til å se yoga-videoer på nettet.

• hun: she
• et: a
• til: to
• å: to
• se: to watch
• på: on
• bruke: to use
• nettet: the net
• nettbrettet: the tablet
• yoga-videoen: the yoga video

Questions & Answers about Hun bruker et nettbrett til å se yoga-videoer på nettet.

What is the difference between hun and henne, and why is it Hun bruker … here?

Norwegian has different forms for subject and object pronouns, like English she vs her.

• hun = she (subject form)
• henne = her (object form / after prepositions)

In the sentence, hun is the subject (the one doing the using), so we must say:

• Hun bruker et nettbrett … = She uses a tablet …

You would use henne in places like:

• Jeg ser henne. = I see her.
• Videoene er for henne. = The videos are for her.

Why is bruker in the present tense? In English we would say “is using,” not “uses.”

Norwegian doesn’t have a special continuous form like English is using. The simple present bruker covers both:

• Hun bruker et nettbrett nå.
  = She is using a tablet now.

and

• Hun bruker et nettbrett hver dag.
  = She uses a tablet every day.

So Hun bruker et nettbrett … can mean either She is using or She uses, depending on context. You don’t change the verb form to show continuous aspect.

What does the structure bruke noe til å + infinitive mean exactly?

The pattern is:

• bruke + [something] + til å + [verb in infinitive]

It literally means “use [something] to [do something]”, expressing purpose:

• Hun bruker et nettbrett til å se yoga-videoer.
  = She uses a tablet to watch yoga videos.

Other examples:

• Jeg bruker telefonen til å ringe familien.
  = I use the phone to call my family.
• Han bruker bilen til å dra på jobb.
  = He uses the car to go to work.

til introduces the purpose, and å + verb is the infinitive, like English to watch, to call, to go.

Could we say for å se instead of til å se? What is the difference between til å and for å here?

Both are possible, but there is a nuance.

• bruke noe til å + verb is the most natural, standard way to say you use something for a particular purpose:

  • Hun bruker et nettbrett til å se yoga-videoer. ✔️

• for å + verb on its own means in order to / to:

  • Hun ser yoga-videoer for å slappe av.
    = She watches yoga videos in order to relax.

You can sometimes hear:

• Hun bruker et nettbrett for å se yoga-videoer.

This isn’t wrong, but many speakers will find til å more idiomatic right after bruke when you’re talking about the function or purpose of an object. So:

• bruke X til å Y is the default pattern for “use X to Y.”

Why is it et nettbrett and not en nettbrett?

Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender: masculine, feminine, neuter.

• et is the neuter indefinite article (a/an).
• en is the masculine indefinite article.

The word nettbrett (tablet / iPad-like device) is grammatically neuter, so it takes et:

• et nettbrett – a tablet
• nettbrettet – the tablet

You just have to learn the gender for each noun. There’s no reliable rule from the ending here; dictionaries mark the gender, e.g.:

• et nettbrett (n)

What exactly does nettbrett mean, and how is the word formed?

nettbrett is a compound noun:

• nett = net, internet
• brett = board, tray, slab (also used for flat devices)

So nettbrett literally means something like “net-board”, and in modern usage it means a tablet computer, like an iPad or Android tablet.

It’s common in Norwegian to make new tech words as compounds like this:

• bærbar PC – laptop (literally “portable PC”)
• hodetelefoner – headphones (head + telephones)

Why is there no preposition after se? In English we say “watch videos,” but sometimes Norwegian uses se på (= look at/watch), right?

Both se and se på exist:

• se = see / watch
• se på = look at / watch

Which one you use depends on the object and idiom:

• se en film – watch a movie
• se på TV – watch TV
• se på bilder – look at pictures
• se en video or se på en video – both can occur

In this sentence:

• … til å se yoga-videoer …

using just se is completely natural: to watch yoga videos.
You could also hear se på yoga-videoer, but se yoga-videoer is shorter and normal in this context.

Why is it written yoga-videoer with a hyphen? Could it also be yogavideoer?

Yes, both forms are possible:

• yogavideoer
• yoga-videoer

Norwegian normally prefers one-word compounds:

• yogavideoer (yoga + videoer) – this looks very natural.

A hyphen is often used:

• when one part is a foreign word (like yoga),
• or to make the word easier to read.

So yoga-videoer is also fine and understood. Style guides usually recommend writing common, well-integrated combinations as one word: yogavideoer.

Why is videoer plural and without any article?

video is a countable noun. Its main forms are:

• en video – a video
• videoen – the video
• videoer – videos (indefinite plural)
• videoene – the videos (definite plural)

In the sentence we talk about yoga videos in general, not specific ones, so we use indefinite plural:

• yoga-videoer = yoga videos (some / any yoga videos)

Norwegian doesn’t need a word like some here. You just use the plural form without an article:

• Hun liker filmer. = She likes movies.
• Han kjøper epler. = He buys apples.
• Hun ser yoga-videoer. = She watches yoga videos.

Why is it på nettet and not simply på nett?

Both exist and are common:

• på nettet = literally “on the net” (definite: nettet)
• på nett = on net (indefinite, fixed expression)

nettet is the definite form of nett (net, web):

• et nett – a net
• nettet – the net

In IT/Internet contexts:

• på nettet and på nett both mean online / on the internet.

Hun ser yoga-videoer på nettet.
Hun ser yoga-videoer på nett.

These are practically interchangeable. på nettet may feel a tiny bit more literal (“on the net”), but in everyday language they mean the same.

Why do we use the preposition på in på nettet and not i?

Which preposition you use is mostly idiomatic. For the internet, Norwegian uses på:

• på nettet / på internett / på nett – on the internet / online

We also use på for many platforms and media:

• på TV – on TV
• på radio – on the radio
• på YouTube – on YouTube
• på Facebook – on Facebook

So på here is just the standard preposition with nett(et) in this meaning.

Can we move på nettet earlier in the sentence, like Hun bruker et nettbrett på nettet til å se yoga-videoer?

That version is grammatically possible, but sounds odd or unclear.

Why? Because på nettet naturally belongs with se yoga-videoer (watching them online), not with bruker et nettbrett (using a tablet online).

The most natural grouping is:

• Hun bruker et nettbrett (main clause)
• til å se yoga-videoer på nettet (purpose: to watch yoga videos online)

If you say:

• Hun bruker et nettbrett på nettet til å …

it can sound more like she uses a tablet on the internet, which isn’t how we usually phrase it. So the original order is best.

Is the word order Hun bruker et nettbrett til å se yoga-videoer på nettet fixed, or can we change it?

The core word order is subject – verb – object – extra info, and that is mostly fixed here:

• Hun (subject)
• bruker (verb)
• et nettbrett (object)
• til å se yoga-videoer på nettet (purpose phrase)

You can’t freely move things around without it sounding strange. These are natural variants:

• Hun bruker et nettbrett til å se yoga-videoer på nettet.
• Hun bruker et nettbrett til å se yoga-videoer på nett.

You could front the purpose phrase in special emphasis contexts:

• Til å se yoga-videoer på nettet bruker hun et nettbrett.

This sounds more stylistic/marked, like stressing the purpose. But for normal, neutral speech, the original order is the standard one.