Til slutt drikker vi kaffe i stuen.

In the end we drink coffee in the living room.

Breakdown of Til slutt drikker vi kaffe i stuen.

• drikke: to drink
• vi: we
• i: in
• kaffen: the coffee
• stuen: the living room
• til slutt: at the end

Questions & Answers about Til slutt drikker vi kaffe i stuen.

What does «til slutt» literally mean, and how is it different from words like «endelig» or «sist»?

Literally, «til slutt» means “to (the) end” and is used as “finally / in the end / at last (in a sequence)”.

• «til slutt»: marks the last step in a sequence of actions.

  • Vi spiser middag, ser på TV, og til slutt drikker vi kaffe.
    → We eat dinner, watch TV, and finally we drink coffee.

• «endelig»: usually means “finally!” with an emotional feel (relief, impatience).

  • Endelig er du her! → You’re finally here!

• «sist»: means “last” in the sense of previous or “the last item” in a list.

  • Sist gang drakk vi te. → Last time we drank tea.
  • Jeg kom sist i løpet. → I came last in the race.

In this sentence, «Til slutt drikker vi kaffe i stuen.», «til slutt» just tells you this action happens after other things, without necessarily expressing emotion.

Why is it «drikker vi» and not «vi drikker» after «til slutt»?

Norwegian is a V2 language (verb-second), like German. That means the finite verb normally comes in second position in a main clause.

Here the first position is taken by the adverbial «Til slutt», so the verb must come second:

• Til slutt (1) drikker (2) vi (3) kaffe i stuen.

If you don’t start with an adverbial, you get the more “neutral” order:

• Vi drikker kaffe i stuen til slutt. (Possible, but less natural; the adverbial sounds tacked on.)
• Vi drikker kaffe i stuen. (No focus on “finally”.)

So after almost any element placed first (time, place, object, etc.), the verb comes next, and the subject follows the verb.

Can I move «til slutt» to the end of the sentence: «Vi drikker kaffe i stuen til slutt.»?

You can, and it’s grammatically correct, but the nuance changes slightly.

• Til slutt drikker vi kaffe i stuen.
  → Neutral, natural way to say: Finally, we drink coffee in the living room. The “finally” is emphasized at the start.

• Vi drikker kaffe i stuen til slutt.
  → Also means We drink coffee in the living room at the end / finally, but the adverbial «til slutt» feels a bit more like an afterthought or extra piece of information.

Native speakers most often place «til slutt» at or near the beginning when it’s structuring the narrative.

Where is the word “the” in «stuen»? Why isn’t it a separate word like in English?

Norwegian does not use a separate word for “the” in most cases. Instead, the definite article is attached as a suffix to the noun.

• en stue = a living room
• stuen = the living room (stue + en)

So in «i stuen» you literally have “in living-room-the”, which is how Norwegian marks the definite form.

What is the difference between «i stuen» and «i stua»?

Both mean “in the living room” and are very common.

The base noun is «stue» (living room):

• Indefinite:
  
  • en stue or ei stue → a living room
• Definite:
  
  • stuen (more formal/standard Bokmål)
  • stua (colloquial, common in speech and informal writing)

So:

• i stuen = in the living room (more “written standard”)
• i stua = in the living room (very common in everyday speech)

Meaning is the same; it’s mostly a style/variety choice.

Why is it «i stuen» and not «på stuen»?

The preposition «i» means “in / inside”, and «stue» is a room inside a house, so «i stuen» = in the living room.

«på» is more like “on / at”, and is used with certain fixed expressions and some locations:

• på kjøkkenet – in/at the kitchen
• på kontoret – at the office
• på skolen – at school

For «stue», the standard expression is «i stuen». Some dialects may say «på stua», but in standard Bokmål you should learn «i stuen / i stua».

Why is there no article with «kaffe»? Why not «vi drikker en kaffe»?

In «vi drikker kaffe», «kaffe» is used as a mass noun, like English “coffee” in we drink coffee. In that usage, you don’t add an article:

• Vi drikker kaffe. → We drink coffee / We’re drinking coffee.

You can use an article if you mean one cup / one coffee as a countable item:

• Vi drikker en kaffe. → literally We drink a coffee = We’re having a coffee (one each / one specific coffee).

In everyday speech, «drikke kaffe» (without article) is the most typical when talking generally about drinking coffee.

Does «drikker» mean both “drink” and “are drinking”?

Yes. Norwegian doesn’t have a separate -ing (progressive) tense like English. The simple present covers both:

• Vi drikker kaffe.
  → Can mean We drink coffee (in general)
  → Or We are drinking coffee (right now)

Context usually makes it clear.

If you really want to emphasize the ongoing action, you can use «holde på å»:

• Vi holder på å drikke kaffe. → We are in the process of drinking coffee.

But in most cases, simple «Vi drikker kaffe» is enough.

Where can «i stuen» go in the sentence? Is the position fixed?

Its position is flexible, but the verb must stay second. Some natural options:

1. Til slutt drikker vi kaffe i stuen.
2. Til slutt drikker vi i stuen kaffe. (grammatical, but odd; don’t use)
3. I stuen drikker vi kaffe til slutt.
4. Vi drikker kaffe i stuen til slutt.

Most natural for this meaning:

• Til slutt drikker vi kaffe i stuen.
  or
• I stuen drikker vi kaffe til slutt. (focus on the place first)

Keep in mind:

• Put the main time/place adverbials near the beginning or near the verb–subject.
• Verb still has to be in position 2 in main clauses.

How do you pronounce «til slutt», «drikker», and «stuen»?

Approximate pronunciation (standard Eastern Norwegian):

• til → /til/

  • t as in too, i like ee in see but shorter, l normal.

• slutt → /ʂlʉt/

  • sl often becomes a retroflex sound /ʂ/ (similar to English “sh” but with the tongue curled back).
  • u is like a close rounded /ʉ/, somewhere between English oo in food and u in put.
  • Double tt makes the consonant short and crisp.

• drikker → roughly /ˈdrɪkər/

  • Stress on drik-.
  • i like English i in sit.
  • Final -er is often a schwa-like sound /ər/, not clearly “air”.

• stuen → /ˈstʉːən/ or /ˈstʉːn/ (the middle vowel can be very weak)

  • u again like /ʉ/.
  • Stress on stu-.
  • The -en is the definite ending, often reduced.

You’ll also often hear the more colloquial «stua» /ˈstʉːɑ/.

Is «til slutt» the same as «etterpå» or «senere»?

All relate to time, but:

• til slutt – last in a sequence:

  • Først spiser vi, så ser vi på TV, og til slutt drikker vi kaffe.
    → First we eat, then we watch TV, and finally we drink coffee.

• etterpå – afterwards, sometime after, not necessarily the last thing:

  • Vi spiser, og etterpå drikker vi kaffe.
    → We eat, and afterward we drink coffee.

• senere – later (more vague, sometime in the future):

  • Vi spiser nå, og vi drikker kaffe senere.
    → We eat now, and we’ll drink coffee later.

In the given sentence, «til slutt» emphasizes that the coffee in the living room is the final step in some routine or series of events.

What gender is «stue», and how does that affect its forms?

«Stue» is feminine (in traditional grammar), but in Bokmål it can be treated as feminine or masculine. This gives you two possible sets of forms:

• Treated as masculine (en):

  • en stue – a living room
  • stuen – the living room

• Treated as feminine (ei):

  • ei stue – a living room
  • stua – the living room

Both patterns are correct Bokmål. You just need to be consistent within your own speech/writing. In practice:

• stuen feels a bit more formal/written.
• stua feels more everyday/colloquial.

In the sentence «Til slutt drikker vi kaffe i stuen.», the writer is using the masculine pattern.