Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Etter treningsøkten legger hun nøklene på kjøkkenbenken og lager frokost. - After the workout session she puts the keys on the kitchen counter and makes breakfast.

Etter treningsøkten legger hun nøklene på kjøkkenbenken og lager frokost.

After the workout session she puts the keys on the kitchen counter and makes breakfast.

Breakdown of Etter treningsøkten legger hun nøklene på kjøkkenbenken og lager frokost.

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Questions & Answers about Etter treningsøkten legger hun nøklene på kjøkkenbenken og lager frokost.

Why does the sentence start with «Etter treningsøkten» instead of «Hun legger…» first? Is that normal word order?

Yes, it’s normal. Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule (verb in second position):

If the sentence starts with the subject:
Hun legger nøklene på kjøkkenbenken etter treningsøkten.
(Hun = first element, legger = verb in second position)
If you move a time expression to the front (for emphasis/structure):
Etter treningsøkten legger hun nøklene på kjøkkenbenken…
(Etter treningsøkten = first element, legger = still the verb in second position, then the subject hun)

So the verb must stay in position 2, but what comes in position 1 is flexible (subject, time, place, etc.).

Why is it «treningsøkten» and not just «treningsøkt» or «treningen»?

treningsøkt = a workout / a training session (indefinite)
treningsøkten = the workout / the training session (definite)

Here we have «Etter treningsøkten…» = after the workout (a specific one that has just happened).

Compare:

Etter treningsøkt – sounds incomplete/wrong; a singular countable noun usually needs an article or the definite ending.
Etter trening – more general: after training / after exercising (in general).
Etter treningen – also “after the training”, but trening is more like the activity in general, while treningsøkt is one concrete session.

So treningsøkten matches the idea of one particular session that has just finished.

What exactly does «treningsøkt» mean, and how is it formed?

treningsøkt is a compound noun:

trening = training, exercise
- s (linking sound in many compounds)
økt = session / period (of time, work, effort)

So treningsøkt = “training session” or “workout”.

Forms (common gender noun, en treningsøkt):

Indefinite singular: en treningsøkt – a workout
Definite singular: treningsøkten – the workout
Indefinite plural: treningsøkter – workouts
Definite plural: treningsøktene – the workouts

Why is it «legger hun nøklene» and not «hun legger nøklene»? Isn’t that question word order?

In this sentence:

Etter treningsøkten legger hun nøklene på kjøkkenbenken …

This is statement word order, not a question.

First element: Etter treningsøkten (time)
Second element (must be the verb in Norwegian main clauses): legger
Then subject: hun

If it were a yes/no question, we would also put the verb first, but without the initial time phrase:

Legger hun nøklene på kjøkkenbenken? – Does she put the keys on the kitchen counter?

So:

Time first → verb second → subject third = normal statement.
Verb first → subject second = question.

Why is the verb «legger» used here? Could you say «setter» or «putter» instead?

Norwegian distinguishes between different “put” verbs:

å legge – to lay, put something lying / horizontally
å sette – to set, put something standing / vertically
å stille – to place carefully, often upright, or “to set” (e.g. a clock)
å putte – to put/pop/place (often more informal, and often into something: a pocket, a bag)

For keys on a kitchen counter, you usually imagine them lying flat, so:

Hun legger nøklene på kjøkkenbenken. – most natural.

You could hear:

Hun legger fra seg nøklene på kjøkkenbenken. – “She puts down/leaves the keys on the counter.”
Hun putter nøklene på kjøkkenbenken. – understandable, but sounds more casual / less idiomatic than legger here.

«Setter nøklene på kjøkkenbenken» sounds off, because keys don’t “stand up” like a bottle or a vase.

Why is it «nøklene» and not «nøklene hennes» or «nøklene sine»? How do possessives work here?

nøklene = the keys (definite plural, no possessive shown).
Norwegian often omits possessive pronouns when it’s obvious whose thing it is, especially with body parts, clothes, and personal items.

Here, context makes it natural that they are her keys, so:

Hun legger nøklene på kjøkkenbenken.

is normally understood as “She puts her keys on the kitchen counter.”

If you want to add a possessive:

Hun legger nøklene sine på kjøkkenbenken.
– sine is reflexive, used when the owner is the subject (hun).
Hun legger nøklene hennes på kjøkkenbenken.
– usually means she puts another woman’s keys there (not her own).

So the sentence as given is natural and does not need a possessive.

Why is it «på kjøkkenbenken» and not «i kjøkkenbenken» or «på kjøkkenet»?

Prepositions with places are quite specific in Norwegian:

på = on (a surface), at
i = in / inside

Here, kjøkkenbenken is the countertop surface, so you put something on it:

på kjøkkenbenken – on the kitchen counter.

Compare:

på kjøkkenet – in/at the kitchen (as a room or general area)
i skuffen – in the drawer
i lomma – in the pocket

«i kjøkkenbenken» would literally be inside the kitchen bench/counter, which doesn’t make sense unless you mean inside a built-in cabinet.

What does «kjøkkenbenken» mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Another compound noun:

kjøkken = kitchen
benk = bench; in this context, counter / countertop

So kjøkkenbenk = kitchen counter.

Forms (common gender: en kjøkkenbenk):

Indefinite singular: en kjøkkenbenk – a kitchen counter
Definite singular: kjøkkenbenken – the kitchen counter
Indefinite plural: kjøkkenbenker – kitchen counters
Definite plural: kjøkkenbenkene – the kitchen counters

In the sentence, på kjøkkenbenken = on the kitchen counter.

Why is it «lager frokost» and not «gjør frokost» or something with «koker»?

For preparing food, Norwegian almost always uses lage:

å lage mat – to cook / make food
å lage frokost – to make breakfast
å lage middag – to make dinner

gjøre frokost is not idiomatic.

koke is more specific: to boil or cook something in water:

å koke pasta, å koke poteter, å koke egg.

So:

Hun lager frokost. – “She makes breakfast.” (natural)
Hun gjør frokost. – wrong/unnatural.
Hun koker frokost. – would sound strange unless you mean she is literally boiling some particular food that is the breakfast.

Both «legger» and «lager» end in -er. How do these present tense forms work, and is «legger» regular?

Present tense in Norwegian is usually -er for verbs:

å lage → lager (regular)
å snakke → snakker
å bo → bor (slightly different, but same idea: one present form for all persons)

Verbs do not change with person:
I/you/he/she/we/they lager.

å legge is irregular in the stem vowel, but present is still -er:

Infinitive: å legge
Present: legger
Preterite (past): la
Perfect participle: har lagt

So in the sentence:

legger = present of å legge
lager = present of å lage

Both are simple present, used for current actions or regular/habitual actions.

Does «Etter treningsøkten legger hun nøklene … og lager frokost» mean these things happen at the same time, or one after another?

In practice, it’s read as a sequence:

After the workout, she puts the keys on the kitchen counter,
and then she makes breakfast.

Norwegian often uses og just to link actions in order, without explicitly saying “then”. The context (and normal logic) tells you that she doesn’t make breakfast at exactly the same moment as she’s putting the keys down.

You could make the sequence even clearer with så (“then”):

Etter treningsøkten legger hun nøklene på kjøkkenbenken, og så lager hun frokost.

But it’s not necessary.

Could I move «etter treningsøkten» to another place in the sentence?

Yes. Different positions are possible, with slightly different emphasis but all grammatical:

Etter treningsøkten legger hun nøklene på kjøkkenbenken og lager frokost.
– Time first, then verb; neutral, very natural.
Hun legger nøklene på kjøkkenbenken og lager frokost etter treningsøkten.
– Time at the end; also common.
Hun legger etter treningsøkten nøklene på kjøkkenbenken og lager frokost.
– Grammatically possible, but sounds more marked / less natural; splitting up the verb and its object (legger nøklene) is usually avoided in everyday speech.

The most idiomatic are (1) and (2).

How do you pronounce «kjøkkenbenken»? Especially the kj and ø sounds.

Rough guide (using English-ish hints):

kjøkkenbenken: /ˈçøkːənˌbɛŋkən/ (Eastern standard)

Key sounds:

kj: a soft, voiceless sound made near the front of the mouth, not like English “k”.
- It’s a bit like trying to say “h” while your tongue is close to the hard palate (similar to the German ich-sound).
ø: a rounded front vowel, between “e” in “bed” and “u” in “burn” (BrE).
- Try saying English “eh” while rounding your lips.

Syllables: kjøk-ken-ben-ken
Stress on the first syllable: KJØK-ken-ben-ken.

You don’t have to be perfect; Norwegians will understand you even if kj sounds a bit like English “sh” at first.