Breakdown of Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av enn foran skjermen.
Questions & Answers about Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av enn foran skjermen.
Når is used for time (“when / whenever”), especially for repeated or general situations:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av …
= Whenever I do gardening, I relax more …
Hvis means “if” and introduces a condition, something that may or may not happen:
- Hvis jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av …
= If I do gardening, (then) I relax more …
Both are grammatically possible, but the original sentence describes a general, habitual situation (“whenever I do gardening”), so når is the natural choice. With hvis you’d sound like you’re talking about a condition or a possible situation rather than a regular pattern.
Norwegian has a V2 word order rule in main clauses: the finite verb is always in second position.
The first part, Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, is a dependent clause. When you put such a clause at the beginning, the whole clause counts as position 1 in the main clause that follows. That forces inversion:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, → this is position 1 in the main clause
- the finite verb (slapper) must come next (position 2)
- then the subject (jeg)
So:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av … ✅
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, jeg slapper mer av … ❌ (breaks the V2 rule)
If you start directly with the subject, you get the “normal” order:
- Jeg slapper mer av når jeg gjør hagearbeid. (Subject = position 1, verb = position 2)
Literally, gjør hagearbeid is “do garden-work”, i.e. “do gardening”.
Norwegian often uses å gjøre + noun with activity nouns:
- gjøre lekser – do homework
- gjøre husarbeid – do housework
- gjøre yoga – do yoga
- gjøre hagearbeid – do gardening
There isn’t a common, everyday simple verb like English to garden. Instead, å gjøre hagearbeid is the standard way to express “to do gardening” / “to work in the garden”.
There is a verb å hagearbeide, so Når jeg hagearbeider is grammatically possible, but it sounds:
- uncommon
- a bit formal or bookish in everyday speech
Most native speakers would naturally say:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid
- Når jeg jobber i hagen
- Når jeg arbeider i hagen
So for normal, everyday Norwegian, stick to gjøre hagearbeid or (jobbe/arbeide) i hagen.
Å slappe av is a fixed expression meaning “to relax”.
- slappe by itself isn’t used with this meaning
- av here doesn’t keep its usual “off” / “of” meaning; together they form one unit:
å slappe av = to relax, to unwind
The verb conjugates, but av stays after it:
- Jeg slapper av. – I relax.
- Jeg slappet av. – I relaxed.
- Jeg skal slappe av. – I’m going to relax.
In your sentence:
- slapper jeg mer av
= I relax more
Both are possible:
- slapper jeg mer av
- slapper jeg av mer
The most natural is slapper (jeg) mer av, placing mer (more) right before the verb phrase’s particle av. It’s similar to where you’d put “more” in English rhythm-wise:
- “I relax more” vs “I relax more fully”
Nuances:
- Jeg slapper mer av.
→ neutral “I relax more (than before / than in the other situation).” - Jeg slapper av mer.
→ also understandable; can sound slightly more focused on how much you relax, but not a strong difference.
For learners: Jeg slapper mer av is the safest and most common phrasing.
You must have a subject in the main clause. In:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av …
the first jeg belongs to the når-clause, and the second jeg is the subject of the main clause.
If you drop the second jeg:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper mer av enn … ❌
you end up with a verb (slapper) with no subject in the main clause, which is ungrammatical in Norwegian.
So you need both:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid – dependent clause
- (så) slapper jeg mer av … – main clause with its own subject jeg
In Norwegian, you usually put a comma between a dependent clause and the main clause when the dependent clause comes first.
Here:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, → dependent clause
- slapper jeg mer av enn foran skjermen. → main clause
So the comma marks the boundary:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av … ✅
If you switch the order, there’s normally no comma:
- Jeg slapper mer av når jeg gjør hagearbeid. ✅ (no comma needed)
The comparison is:
- slapper jeg mer av enn foran skjermen
Literally, the fuller idea is:
- … enn (når jeg er) foran skjermen.
= … than (when I am) in front of the screen.
Norwegian often omits repeated words if they’re clear from context:
- the subject jeg
- the verb er
- the når-clause
So instead of:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av enn når jeg er foran skjermen.
you get the more natural, shorter:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av enn foran skjermen.
Norwegian often uses the definite form when English might allow “a …” but context actually refers to something understood as specific.
Skjermen here most naturally means:
- “the screen” you usually sit in front of (your computer screen, TV screen, phone, etc.)
Saying:
- … enn foran en skjerm.
would sound more like any random screen, not your typical situation. That’s possible, but the default interpretation of the English “in front of the screen” is better matched by foran skjermen.
You could also be more specific:
- foran PC-en – in front of the PC
- foran TV-en – in front of the TV
- foran dataskjermen – in front of the computer screen
Foran means “in front of” in a spatial sense:
- foran huset – in front of the house
- foran meg – in front of me
- foran skjermen – in front of the screen
Other prepositions:
- på skjermen – on the screen (something is displayed on it)
- Det står en melding på skjermen. – There is a message on the screen.
- ved skjermen – by / near the screen (close to it, but not emphasizing facing it)
- framfor skjermen – also “in front of the screen”, but foran skjermen is more common in neutral speech.
In your sentence, foran is the correct and natural choice.
Norwegian, like German, usually writes compound nouns as one word:
- hage (garden) + arbeid (work) → hagearbeid (gardening, garden work)
So you write:
- hagearbeid ❌ not hage arbeid as two words.
As a noun:
- It’s neuter: et hagearbeid (but you rarely say the indefinite form with “et”)
- The more common forms:
- hagearbeid (indefinite, no article): Jeg liker hagearbeid. – I like gardening.
- hagearbeidet (definite): Hagearbeidet tar mye tid. – The gardening takes a lot of time.
Approximate phonetic hints (Bokmål, standard eastern pronunciation):
gjør
- IPA: /jøːr/
- “gj” is silent; it sounds roughly like “yur” with a long y (like German “schön” without the “n”).
hagearbeid
- hage: /ˈhɑːɡə/ – HAH-geh (first a like in “father”)
- arbeid: /ˈɑrˌbæɪd/ or /ˈɑrˌbæjd/ – closer to AR-bide (with “ar” like in British “far”, and “ei” like English “eye”).
- Combined: HAH-geh-ar-bide (stress mainly on HAH and a secondary on ar).
skjermen
- skj is pronounced like English “sh”
- IPA: /ˈʂærmən/ (often slightly retroflex “sh”)
- Roughly: SHAIR-men (like “share-men”, but with a Norwegian “r” and a schwa at the end).
Both translate to “when”, but they’re used differently:
når
- for present/future time
- for repeated or habitual actions in the past
- for general “whenever” statements
Examples:
- Når jeg gjør hagearbeid, slapper jeg mer av. – Whenever / When I do gardening, I relax more.
- Når jeg var liten, lekte jeg mye ute. – When I was little, I played outside a lot. (repeated)
da
- for one specific event or period in the past
Example:
- Da jeg gjorde hagearbeid i går, slappet jeg skikkelig av.
– When I did gardening yesterday, I really relaxed.
In your original sentence, it’s a general habit, so når is the correct choice.