Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Etter noen uker med yoga føles kroppen mindre stiv og mer fleksibel, noe som er litt uvanlig for ham. - After a few weeks of yoga the body feels less stiff and more flexible, which is a bit unusual for him.

The sentence starts with an adverbial: Etter noen uker med yoga
Because that whole phrase is in first position, the verb must come second: føles
The subject kroppen then comes after the verb.

So the underlying order is:

Normal order (without fronted adverbial):
Kroppen føles mindre stiv og mer fleksibel. – “The body feels less stiff and more flexible.”
With fronted time phrase (V2 rule kicks in):
Etter noen uker med yoga føles kroppen mindre stiv og mer fleksibel.

Both are grammatical; fronting the time phrase is very natural in Norwegian.

Why is it føles and not føler, and what is the difference between them?

Norwegian distinguishes between:

føler (seg) – literally “feels (oneself)”, about someone’s feelings or perception
- Han føler seg trøtt. – “He feels tired.”
føles – a middle/passive form often meaning “is/feels (in a certain way)” when talking about how something appears or is experienced
- Det føles riktig. – “It feels right.”
- Kroppen føles tung. – “The body feels heavy.”

In the sentence:

kroppen føles mindre stiv og mer fleksibel
= “the body feels less stiff and more flexible (to him / in experience)”

You could also say Han føler seg mindre stiv og mer fleksibel, but then the subject is han and the focus is more on him rather than “his body as an object that feels different”.

Why is it noen uker and not something like uke or ukene?

uke = “week” (singular, indefinite)
uker = “weeks” (plural, indefinite)
ukene = “the weeks” (plural, definite) = “the weeks”
noen before a plural count noun means “some / a few”.

So:

etter noen uker = “after a few weeks / after some weeks”
etter uker (without noen) is unusual here; you normally specify quantity: noen, to, tre, mange, etc.
etter ukene = “after the weeks”, which would sound like you’re talking about some very specific weeks already known from context.

Therefore noen uker is the natural way to say “a few weeks” in Norwegian.

Why do we say med yoga and not av yoga or something else?

Here med has the sense of “with, using, by means of”.

etter noen uker med yoga ≈ “after a few weeks of doing yoga / with yoga”

Alternatives and their nuances:

av yoga – literally “from yoga”; could sound more like yoga is the cause of something, but etter noen uker av yoga is not idiomatic.
gjennom yoga – “through yoga”, more formal/abstract:
- Gjennom yoga har han blitt sterkere. – “Through yoga he has become stronger.”
Often Norwegians just say etter noen uker med yoga or etter å ha gjort yoga i noen uker.

So med yoga is the standard, natural phrase here.

Why are the adjectives stiv and fleksibel in that form? Shouldn’t they change to match kroppen somehow?

They do match kroppen, but this is the normal singular common-gender form.

Noun: kroppen (en kropp) – common gender, singular
Predicative adjectives (after er, blir, føles etc.) agree with the subject in gender and number:
- Kroppen er stiv. – common singular → stiv
- Bena er stive. – plural → stive
- Huset er stivt. – neuter singular → stivt

So here:

kroppen (en kropp) → common singular
Therefore: mindre stiv and mer fleksibel (not stive or stivt).

Why is it mindre stiv and mer fleksibel, and not comparative endings like stivere or fleksiblere?

Norwegian has two ways to make comparatives:

-ere ending:
- stor → større (big → bigger)
- fin → finere (nice → nicer)
mer / mindre + adjective (more / less + adjective), especially with:
- longer or foreign-looking adjectives
- adjectives that are less commonly compared

In practice:

stiv can take stivere, but here we want “less stiff” not “stiffer”:
- mindre stiv = less stiff
- stivere = stiffer (more stiff)
fleksibel is a longer, loan-type adjective; mer fleksibel is much more natural than fleksiblere in everyday Norwegian.

So:

mindre stiv = “less stiff”
mer fleksibel = “more flexible”

Using mindre/mer is the idiomatic way here.

What exactly does «noe som» mean here, and what is it referring to?

Noe som is:

noe – a neuter pronoun meaning “something” (or “which” referring to a whole idea)
som – a relative pronoun = “that / which”.

Together, noe som here refers back to the whole previous idea:

Etter noen uker med yoga føles kroppen mindre stiv og mer fleksibel,
noe som er litt uvanlig for ham.

Roughly:
“After a few weeks of yoga, his body feels less stiff and more flexible, which is a bit unusual for him.”

So noe som = “something which / which” = “a fact which”, pointing to the situation described in the first clause. It’s not just referring to one noun; it refers to the entire preceding statement.

Why is there a comma before «noe som»?

The comma separates:

The main clause:
Etter noen uker med yoga føles kroppen mindre stiv og mer fleksibel
A relative clause commenting on that whole situation:
noe som er litt uvanlig for ham

In Norwegian, when you have a whole-sentence relative clause like this (commenting on the entire previous statement), it is normally set off by a comma. It’s similar to English:

“…more flexible, which is a bit unusual for him.”

So the comma is correct and required here.

Why is it for ham and not for han at the end?

Norwegian has subject forms and object forms of personal pronouns:

han – subject form (he)
ham – object form (him)

Examples:

Han kommer. – He is coming. (subject)
Jeg ser ham. – I see him. (object)
for ham – “for him” (object of the preposition for)

So in for ham, the pronoun is the object of the preposition for, so you must use ham, not han.

Note: In very informal speech, many Norwegians say for han, but in standard written Norwegian, for ham is correct.

What is the nuance of «litt uvanlig»? Could we just say uvanlig?

uvanlig = “unusual”
litt uvanlig = “a bit / a little unusual”, slightly softer.

Adding litt:

softens the statement
makes it sound more natural and conversational
implies it’s somewhat unusual, but not extremely.

Comparisons:

Det er uvanlig for ham. – That is unusual for him. (stronger)
Det er litt uvanlig for ham. – That is a bit unusual for him. (milder, more hedged)

In this context, litt uvanlig fits well, because we’re describing a change in his body that’s somewhat surprising, but not dramatic or shocking.

Could we move for ham earlier in the sentence, and would the meaning change?

Yes, you can move for ham inside the relative clause without changing the basic meaning. For example:

…, noe som for ham er litt uvanlig.

This emphasizes for him slightly more, but it’s still natural. Differences:

noe som er litt uvanlig for ham.
→ neutral, normal order.
noe som for ham er litt uvanlig.
→ puts a small focus on “for him”, hinting that it might not be unusual in general, but it is for him personally.

Both are grammatically fine. The original sentence is the most neutral.

If I want to negate the sentence, where would ikke go?

There are a couple of natural ways to negate, depending on what you want to emphasize.

Negate the whole idea that it feels less stiff and more flexible:

Etter noen uker med yoga føles kroppen ikke mindre stiv og mer fleksibel.
→ “The body does not feel less stiff and more flexible (despite the yoga).”

Negate only one part, e.g. “not less stiff”:

Etter noen uker med yoga føles kroppen ikke mindre stiv, men mer fleksibel.
→ “The body does not feel less stiff, but more flexible.” (slightly odd logically, but grammatically fine)

General rule: in a main clause with fronted element:

[Fronted element] + verb + subject + (other elements) + ikke …
- Etter noen uker med yoga føles kroppen ikke …

So ikke normally comes after the subject in this structure.

Could I also start with Kroppen instead of Etter noen uker med yoga?

Yes. Then the word order changes accordingly:

Kroppen føles mindre stiv og mer fleksibel etter noen uker med yoga, noe som er litt uvanlig for ham.

Here:

Subject kroppen is first
Verb føles must be second (V2 rule)
The time phrase etter noen uker med yoga is moved later in the sentence.

Both versions are correct:

Etter noen uker med yoga føles kroppen … – emphasizes the time/yoga.
Kroppen føles … etter noen uker med yoga – emphasizes the body, then adds the time as extra information.