Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Skrivebordslampen lyser sterkt, men bakgrunnsstøyen fra gaten er fortsatt høy. - The desk lamp shines brightly, but the background noise from the street is still loud.

So you do not say skrivebord lampe; that would sound like two separate nouns (“desk” and “lamp”) placed side by side without forming a proper compound.

Why is it “skrivebordslampen lyser” and not something like “er lys”?

Norwegian prefers the verb å lyse when something emits light:

Skrivebordslampen lyser. = “The desk lamp is shining / gives off light.”

You could say:

Lampen er lys. – grammatically possible but unusual; it sounds more like “the lamp is light (in color)” or is inherently light/bright, not that it is currently shining.

For saying that a light source is on / shining, use:

lyser (from å lyse) – “shines,” “is emitting light.”

Why is it “sterkt” and not “sterk” after “lyser”?

Here, sterkt functions as an adverb, modifying the verb lyser (“shines strongly / brightly”).

In Norwegian, many adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding -t:

sterk (strong) → sterkt (strongly)
høy (high/loud) → høyt (highly/loudly)
fort is already in the -t form and works as both adjective (neuter) and adverb.

So:

Lampen lyser sterkt. = “The lamp shines brightly.”
En sterk lampe. = “A strong/powerful lamp.” (adjective modifying a noun)

What kind of word is “bakgrunnsstøyen” and how is it formed?

Bakgrunnsstøyen is another compound noun in the definite form.

bakgrunn = background
link s (often used in compounds)
støy = noise
→ bakgrunnsstøy = background noise

Then you add the definite ending -en:

bakgrunnsstøyen = the background noise

So the structure is: bakgrunn + s + støy + en.

Why do we say “fra gaten” and not “av gaten” or “på gaten”?

The preposition fra means “from” in the sense of origin or source:

bakgrunnsstøyen fra gaten = “the background noise from the street” (the street is the source of the noise)

Other prepositions would change the meaning:

av gaten – “of the street” (rare/unidiomatic here)
på gaten – “on the street” (location: “on the street,” not “coming from the street”)

So fra is the natural choice to express where the noise comes from.

What is the difference between “gaten” and “gata”?

Both mean “the street” in Bokmål:

gate = street (indefinite form)
gaten = the street (definite, more formal/standard)
gata = the street (definite, more colloquial / often used in spoken language and many written styles)

In this sentence:

fra gaten and fra gata are both acceptable Bokmål, with a slight style difference (formal vs colloquial).

Why is there a comma before “men”?

Men is a coordinating conjunction meaning “but”. Norwegian normally places a comma before coordinating conjunctions that connect two independent clauses:

Skrivebordslampen lyser sterkt,
men bakgrunnsstøyen fra gaten er fortsatt høy.

Each part could stand as a sentence on its own, so a comma is required before men.

Why is the word order “bakgrunnsstøyen fra gaten er fortsatt høy” and not “er bakgrunnsstøyen fra gaten fortsatt høy”?

After men, we start a new main clause, and Norwegian main clauses are typically Subject–Verb–(Adverb)–Rest:

Subject: bakgrunnsstøyen fra gaten
Verb: er
Adverb: fortsatt
Predicate adjective: høy

So: bakgrunnsstøyen fra gaten er fortsatt høy is the normal word order.

You could say “Er bakgrunnsstøyen fra gaten fortsatt høy?” if you are asking a question—then the verb comes first. But in our sentence, it’s a statement, so the regular S–V–Adv order is used.

Why is it “høy” and not “høyt” or “høye” with “bakgrunnsstøyen”?

Here, høy is an adjective describing bakgrunnsstøyen (background noise):

støy is en støy (common gender), singular.
Predicative adjective agreement:
- common gender singular: høy
- neuter singular: høyt
- plural: høye

So:

Bakgrunnsstøyen … er høy. = “The background noise is loud.”

Høyt (neuter / adverb) would be used differently, for example:

Han snakker høyt. = “He speaks loudly.”

What is the difference between “fortsatt” and words like “ennå” or “stadig”?

All of these can be translated as “still” in English, but they differ slightly:

fortsatt – “still, continuing to be the case”; very common in neutral language:
- Støyen er fortsatt høy. = The noise is still high/loud.
ennå – often used in questions/negatives or to mean “yet, still”:
- Er støyen høy ennå? = Is the noise still high?
- Det har ikke blitt stille ennå. = It hasn’t become quiet yet.
stadig – often “continually, repeatedly, all the time”:
- Støyen er stadig høy. = The noise is constantly/continually loud.

In this sentence, fortsatt is the natural choice to express that the situation has not changed yet.

Is it natural to use “høy” with noise, or should we say something like “mye støy” instead?

Both are natural but slightly different:

Støyen er høy. – focuses on the volume / loudness of the noise.
Det er mye støy. – focuses on the amount of noise.

In the sentence “bakgrunnsstøyen fra gaten er fortsatt høy”, the idea is “the background noise is still loud,” so høy is appropriate. If you want to stress that there is a lot of noise in general, you could say:

Det er fortsatt mye bakgrunnsstøy fra gaten.