Learn Hardcore Norwegian: På vinteren rutsjer barna sakte ned en liten bakke ved lekeplassen. - In the winter the children slowly slide down a small hill by the playground.

på vinteren – in (general) wintertime, as a recurring season
om vinteren – also “in winter / during winter”; very similar to på vinteren, often interchangeable
i vinter – “this winter” (the specific current or upcoming winter), not the season in general

So:

På vinteren rutsjer barna… = Generally, in wintertime, the children slide…
I vinter rutsjet barna… = This winter, the children slid…

For a habitual, general statement about winters, på vinteren (or om vinteren) is natural; i vinter would sound too specific for this sentence.

Why does the sentence start with På vinteren and not with Barna?

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the verb is always in the second position, no matter what comes first.

Your sentence:

På vinteren – element 1 (a time expression)
rutsjer – element 2 (the verb, in second position)
barna sakte ned en liten bakke ved lekeplassen – the rest

You could also say:

Barna rutsjer sakte ned en liten bakke ved lekeplassen på vinteren.

Here:

Barna – first element
rutsjer – second element (still V2)

Both are correct. Starting with På vinteren just emphasizes when it happens.

What does the verb rutsjer mean exactly, and how is it different from other “sliding” verbs?

Å rutsje means “to slide”, usually in a playful or uncontrolled way, often used for children and play:

Barna rutsjer ned sklia. – The children slide down the slide.

Related verbs and nuances:

å skli – to slip/slide (often accidental):
Jeg skled på isen. – I slipped on the ice.
å gli – to glide, move smoothly:
Skiene glir godt i dag. – The skis glide well today.
å ake – to go sledding (on a sled):
Vi aker i bakken. – We are sledding on the hill.

In your sentence, rutsjer suggests children sliding down a small hill, likely for fun, possibly on their clothes or a simple sled, and not as technical as gli.

Why is it rutsjer and not a special form like “are sliding” or “used to slide”? How does tense work here?

Rutsjer is present tense and is used very broadly in Norwegian:

current action:
Barna rutsjer nå. – The children are sliding now.
habitual action / general truth:
På vinteren rutsjer barna… – In winter, the children (habitually) slide…

Norwegian does not require a separate construction for “are sliding” or “used to slide”:

English “are sliding” → Norwegian just rutsjer (present)
English “used to slide (every winter)” → still rutsjer when you have a time phrase showing it’s habitual:
På vinteren rutsjer barna…

You could mark past habitual with pleide å rutsje (“used to slide”), but that changes the meaning to “they used to, but maybe not anymore.”

Why is it barna and not barnene or just barn?

Barn is a neuter noun with an irregular plural:

singular indefinite: et barn – a child
singular definite: barnet – the child
plural indefinite: barn – children
plural definite: barna – the children

So:

barna = the children (definite plural)
barnene is wrong in standard Norwegian for this word.

Norwegian neuter nouns that have no ending in the plural indefinite (like barn) usually take -a in the definite plural, not -ene.

What does sakte mean, and is it an adverb or an adjective here?

Sakte means “slowly” or “slow”.

In this sentence it is an adverb, describing how the children slide:

rutsjer sakte – slide slowly

A near-synonym is langsomt:

Barna rutsjer sakte.
Barna rutsjer langsomt.

Both are fine in most contexts. Sakte is very common in everyday speech.

As an adjective, sakte is also used in some contexts (especially after the verb være – “to be”):

Musikken er sakte. – The music is slow. (more natural: rolig or senket etc., but you will hear sakte too)

Could we move sakte somewhere else? For example: På vinteren sakte rutsjer barna…?

The natural placements are:

På vinteren rutsjer barna sakte ned en liten bakke…
På vinteren rutsjer barna ned en liten bakke sakte… (possible, but less common; sounds a bit marked/emphatic)

But:

På vinteren sakte rutsjer barna… – sounds unnatural/wrong
På vinteren rutsjer sakte barna… – also unnatural in normal speech

Typical word order pattern is:

[Time] + [Verb] + [Subject] + [Manner adverb (sakte)] + [Place / direction]

So sakte normally goes after the verb and subject, but before most place expressions.

How does ned work here? Isn’t “down a hill” already clear from en liten bakke?

Ned is a directional particle/preposition meaning “down”.

rutsje ned – to slide down
en liten bakke – a small hill/slope

Together:

rutsjer … ned en liten bakke – slide down a small hill

Without ned, rutsjer barna en liten bakke would sound incomplete or odd. Ned specifies the direction of movement along / down the slope.

You might also hear:

rutsjer barna sakte nedover bakken – slide slowly down the hill

Here nedover also means “down(wards)”.

Why is it en liten bakke and not et lite bakke or something else? How do the forms of liten work?

Bakke is a masculine noun:

en bakke – a hill
bakken – the hill

The adjective liten (“small”) is irregular:

masculine: liten
feminine: lita (in Bokmål, optional; many just use liten)
neuter: lite
plural (all genders): små

So:

en liten bakke – a small hill (masc.)
et lite hus – a small house (neut.)
små barn – small children (plural)

Et lite bakke would be wrong, because bakke is not a neuter noun.

What does ved mean in ved lekeplassen, and how is it different from på or nær?

Ved is a preposition meaning approximately “by / next to / at the side of”.

ved lekeplassen – by the playground, next to the playground

Comparison:

ved lekeplassen – physically close, beside it
nær lekeplassen – near the playground (more about general closeness)
på lekeplassen – at the playground (usually on/in the playground area itself)

In your sentence, ved lekeplassen suggests the hill is located next to the playground, not necessarily on it.

What exactly is lekeplassen? How is the word formed, and why is it definite?

Lekeplassen means “the playground”.

It’s a compound:

leke – to play (verb) / toy (noun)
plass – place, spot
lekeplass – playground
lekeplassen – the playground (definite)

Forms:

en lekeplass – a playground
lekeplassen – the playground
flere lekeplasser – several playgrounds
lekeplassene – the playgrounds

It’s definite here because we’re talking about a specific, known playground (for example, the one in the neighborhood the speaker and listener both know).

Could we say På vinteren sklir barna sakte… instead of rutsjer? Is there any difference?

You can say:

På vinteren sklir barna sakte ned en liten bakke ved lekeplassen.

This is grammatically correct.

Nuances:

rutsjer – common in children’s play contexts; playful sliding, e.g. on a slide or a little hill.
sklir (from å skli) – often suggests sliding/slipping, sometimes accidentally; but also used for sliding on ice, skis, etc.

In everyday speech, many Norwegians would accept both, but rutsjer feels a bit more childish/playful, while sklir can feel slightly more neutral or accidental depending on context.

Is the word order “ned en liten bakke ved lekeplassen” fixed, or can it be rearranged?

The natural order is:

ned en liten bakke ved lekeplassen

This follows a general pattern: [direction] + [object] + [more specific location].

Other variants:

ned ved lekeplassen en liten bakke – unnatural
ned en liten bakke – fine, but then you lose the information ved lekeplassen
ned bakken ved lekeplassen – also fine if you’ve already introduced this hill (now definite: “the hill”)

So you can modify the object (e.g. bakken vs en liten bakke), but the order ned + (object) + (location phrase) is the natural one here.