Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Barna rutsjer ned sklien igjen og igjen. - The children slide down the slide again and again.

In the sentence Barna rutsjer ned sklien igjen og igjen, we are talking about specific children that both speaker and listener know about, so Norwegian uses the definite plural: barna = the children.

Is there a form like barnene for “the children”?

No. For barn (child/children), the definite plural is barna, not barnene.

Some other nouns do have -ene in the definite plural:

en gutt – gutter – guttene (a boy – boys – the boys)

But barn is irregular:

et barn – barn – barna
(a child – children – the children)

What exactly does rutsjer mean? Is it the same as “slide”?

Yes, rutsjer is the present tense of the verb å rutsje, which means to slide (usually down something, like a slide, a hill, or ice).

å rutsje = to slide
jeg rutsjer = I slide / I am sliding
barna rutsjer = the children slide / are sliding

It’s very common in everyday speech, especially about children and playgrounds.

There is also å skli, which also means to slide or to slip, but it’s often used more for losing your footing (to slip on ice). With a playground slide, å rutsje is more typical.

Does rutsjer mean “slide” or “are sliding”? How do you show the -ing form in Norwegian?

Norwegian doesn’t have a separate -ing form like English (are sliding). The simple present often covers both meanings:

Barna rutsjer ned sklien.
= The children slide down the slide.
= The children are sliding down the slide.

Context decides whether you understand it as a general habit or something happening right now. Here, with igjen og igjen (again and again), it describes a repeated action happening in that moment.

Why do we need ned in rutsjer ned sklien? Can I just say Barna rutsjer sklien?

You need ned to express the direction (down).

ned = down (movement downward)

Barna rutsjer ned sklien literally: The children slide down the slide.

If you say Barna rutsjer sklien, it sounds wrong in Norwegian. Without ned, we lose the clear idea of downward movement along the slide. So:

✔ Barna rutsjer ned sklien.
✘ Barna rutsjer sklien. (not idiomatic)

Why is it sklien and not sklie? What does that -en ending mean?

The base noun is (en) sklie = a slide (playground slide).

Norwegian often shows definiteness with an ending:

en sklie = a slide (indefinite, singular)
sklien = the slide (definite, singular)

So sklien means the slide.

In other words, the sentence is literally:

Barna – the children
rutsjer ned – slide down
sklien – the slide
igjen og igjen – again and again

Is sklie always masculine with sklien, or can it also be feminine?

In Bokmål, sklie can be treated as masculine or feminine:

Masculine pattern (very common, and used in your sentence):
- en sklie – sklien (a slide – the slide)
Feminine pattern (also allowed in Bokmål):
- ei sklie – sklia (a slide – the slide)

So both sklien and sklia can be grammatically correct, depending on your chosen style. Your sentence uses the masculine form sklien, which is very typical in written Bokmål.

Could you say på sklien instead of ned sklien?

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

ned sklien = down the slide (movement downwards along the slide)
på sklien = on the slide (location on the slide, not focusing on direction)

Examples:

Barna rutsjer ned sklien.
The children are sliding down the slide.
Barna sitter på sklien.
The children are sitting on the slide.

You could combine them too:

Barna rutsjer nedover på sklien.
(The children are sliding down on the slide.)

But for the basic idea “slide down the slide”, ned sklien is the natural choice.

What does igjen og igjen literally mean, and is it idiomatic?

igjen og igjen literally means “again and again”.

igjen = again
og = and
igjen = again

So igjen og igjen is a very natural, idiomatic way to say that something is repeated many times, just like English “again and again”.

Another extremely common variant is:

om og om igjen = over and over again

For example:

Barna rutsjer ned sklien om og om igjen.
= The children slide down the slide over and over again.

Can igjen og igjen go earlier in the sentence, or must it be at the end?

It usually comes at the end in sentences like this, but other positions are possible for emphasis.

Most natural:

Barna rutsjer ned sklien igjen og igjen.

You could move it, but it starts to sound more marked or poetic:

Igjen og igjen rutsjer barna ned sklien. (emphasizes the repetition)

In everyday speech, the end position is by far the most common and neutral.

Do Norwegian verbs change form for plural subjects like barna?

No. Norwegian verbs do not change for person or number.

The present tense of å rutsje is rutsjer for all subjects:

jeg rutsjer – I slide
du rutsjer – you slide
han/hun rutsjer – he/she slides
vi rutsjer – we slide
dere rutsjer – you (plural) slide
de rutsjer – they slide

So barna rutsjer uses the same verb form as any other subject in the present tense.

Should there be a reflexive pronoun, like seg, in rutsjer ned sklien?

No. å rutsje is used without a reflexive pronoun in this meaning.

✔ Barna rutsjer ned sklien.
✘ Barna rutsjer seg ned sklien. (incorrect)

You do use reflexive pronouns with some other verbs (for example å sette seg = to sit down, literally “to place oneself”), but å rutsje in the sense “to slide” behaves like a normal intransitive verb here.

How do you pronounce barna rutsjer ned sklien igjen og igjen?

Approximate pronunciation in a standard East Norwegian accent (roughly):

barna ≈ BAR-nah (first syllable like English “bar”, second like “nah”)
rutsjer ≈ ROOT-sher but with a shorter oo and a “ch” sound like in English “church” (Norwegian tsj sound)
ned ≈ nehd (short e like in “bed”)
sklien ≈ SKLEE-en (first part like “sklee”, then a very short “en”)
igjen ≈ ee-YEN
og ≈ og or å (often sounds more like “å”)

Said smoothly, it’s something like:

BAR-nah ROOT-sher neh(d) SKLEE-en ee-YEN og ee-YEN

Exact sounds vary by dialect, but this will be understood everywhere.

Is å rutsje informal or childish, or can adults also use it?

å rutsje is neutral and completely normal; adults use it too, especially for sliding down something.

Barna rutsjer ned sklien.
The children slide down the slide.
Jeg rutsjet nesten ned hele bakken.
I almost slid down the whole hill.

For losing footing or slipping by accident, å skli is often more common:

Hun skled på isen.
She slipped on the ice.

But å rutsje itself is not “baby talk”; it’s standard everyday vocabulary.

Can I replace rutsjer with sklir here?

You can, but it sounds a bit less typical for a playground slide.

å skli = to slide / to slip
Present: sklir

So:

Barna sklir ned sklien.
is grammatically correct and understandable: The children slide down the slide.

However, native speakers often prefer rutsje specifically for going down a slide, so:

Barna rutsjer ned sklien.
sounds more natural in this playground context.