Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig, så alle rydder med en gang. - We are used to the kitchen counter being tidy, so everyone cleans up right away.

Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig, så alle rydder med en gang.

We are used to the kitchen counter being tidy, so everyone cleans up right away.

Breakdown of Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig, så alle rydder med en gang.

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Questions & Answers about Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig, så alle rydder med en gang.

In Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig, what does er vant til do, and how is it different from English used to?

Er vant til means is/are accustomed to or is/are used to (in the sense of being familiar with something as the normal situation).

Important difference from English:

English used to usually talks about a past habit that has stopped:
- I used to smoke. (I don’t anymore.)
Norwegian er vant til is about your current level of habit/familiarity:
- Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig.
  = We are (currently) accustomed to / used to the kitchen counter being tidy.

If you want to talk about a past habit in Norwegian (like English used to), you normally use pleide å:

Vi pleide å ha en ryddig kjøkkenbenk.
= We used to have a tidy kitchen counter (but maybe not anymore).

Why is it vant til at and not vant at or vant til å here?

The core expression is å være vant til (to be used to / to be accustomed to).
The til always belongs to vant:

å være vant til noe – to be used to something (a noun)
å være vant til å gjøre noe – to be used to doing something (an activity)
å være vant til at … – to be used to the fact that … (a whole clause)

In your sentence, what follows is a full clause: kjøkkenbenken er ryddig.
Norwegian normally introduces such a clause with at (that), so you get:

vant til at + clause
Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig.

You would not say:

✗ Vi er vant at … (missing til)
✗ Vi er vant til å kjøkkenbenken er ryddig. (å must be followed by an infinitive verb, not a full clause)

When do I use vant til at, vant til å, and vant til + noun?

All three are common; they just take different kinds of complements:

Vant til + noun
- Jeg er vant til støy.
  I am used to noise.
Vant til å + infinitive (verb)
- Jeg er vant til å jobbe lenge.
  I am used to working long hours.
Vant til at + clause
- Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig.
  We are used to the kitchen counter being tidy.

So in your sentence we have a full statement (kjøkkenbenken er ryddig), so vant til at is the natural choice.

Why is there a comma before så in …, så alle rydder med en gang?

Here, så is a coordinating conjunction meaning so / therefore.
Norwegian puts a comma before coordinating conjunctions that join two independent clauses:

Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig, så alle rydder med en gang.
- Clause 1: Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig.
- Clause 2: Alle rydder med en gang.

Because both sides could stand as separate sentences, a comma is required before så in standard Norwegian.

When så is an adverb (meaning then, so much, etc.) and just part of one clause, you normally do not put a comma before it:

Så gikk vi hjem. – Then we went home.
Det var så kaldt. – It was so cold.

In at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig, why is the word order kjøkkenbenken er and not er kjøkkenbenken?

At kjøkkenbenken er ryddig is a subordinate clause (introduced by at = that).

Norwegian word order rule:

In main clauses, the verb is normally in second position (V2 rule):
- Kjøkkenbenken er ryddig.
- Nå er kjøkkenbenken ryddig.
In subordinate clauses, the verb does not have to be second; it usually comes after the subject:
- … at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig. (subject kjøkkenbenken, then verb er)

So:

✔ at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig – correct subordinate clause word order
✗ at er kjøkkenbenken ryddig – sounds wrong; this would only be possible in very marked, poetic language, not in normal speech.

In så alle rydder med en gang, why does rydder come after alle, not right after så?

Here, så is a coordinating conjunction (like and, but) connecting two main clauses:

Clause 1: Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig,
Clause 2: så alle rydder med en gang.

Because så is working like and/so/but, it is not counted as the first element that triggers inversion. The second clause is just a normal main clause:

Subject: alle
Verb: rydder
Rest: med en gang

If så were an adverb at the start of a clause (meaning then, so, in that way), it would normally come before the verb (and trigger V2):

Så rydder alle med en gang.
= Then everyone tidies up immediately.

So:

Conjunction så: … , så alle rydder med en gang. (subject–verb)
Adverb så: Så rydder alle med en gang. (så–verb–subject)

What is the difference between rydder, å rydde, ryddig, and ryddet? They look similar.

They are all related to tidying/clearing up, but they have different grammatical roles:

å rydde – infinitive verb, to tidy / to clear up
- Jeg liker å rydde. – I like to tidy.
rydder – present tense of rydde, tidies / is tidying
- Alle rydder med en gang. – Everyone tidies up right away.
ryddet – past participle of rydde
- Kjøkkenbenken er ryddet. – The kitchen counter has been tidied.
  Often used in passive or with har:
- Vi har ryddet kjøkkenet.
ryddig – adjective, tidy / orderly / neat
- Kjøkkenbenken er ryddig. – The kitchen counter is tidy.

In your sentence we have:

er ryddig – is tidy (adjective)
rydder – tidies (up) (verb)

What does med en gang literally mean, and are there common synonyms?

Med en gang literally means with one time, but idiomatically it means:

right away, immediately, straight away

Common synonyms:

straks – immediately
med det samme – right away
øyeblikkelig – immediately (a bit more formal)

So:

Alle rydder med en gang.
= Everyone tidies up right away.

Why is it kjøkkenbenken (definite form) and not just kjøkkenbenk?

Norwegian normally uses the definite form for things that are:

specific and known to both speaker and listener, or
unique in that context (like the kitchen counter in our kitchen).

In this sentence, kjøkkenbenken refers to the particular kitchen counter in our home / shared space, so it is specific:

kjøkkenbenk – a kitchen counter (indefinite)
kjøkkenbenken – the kitchen counter (definite)

English also uses the definite article here: the kitchen counter, not a kitchen counter. Norwegian marks this in the noun ending rather than with a separate word the.

How is kjøkkenbenk formed and declined?

Kjøkkenbenk is a compound noun:

kjøkken = kitchen
benk = bench / counter

Together, kjøkkenbenk ≈ kitchen counter.

It’s a masculine noun (en kjøkkenbenk). Main forms:

Singular:
- en kjøkkenbenk – a kitchen counter
- kjøkkenbenken – the kitchen counter
Plural:
- kjøkkenbenker – kitchen counters
- kjøkkenbenkene – the kitchen counters

In your sentence we are talking about one specific counter: kjøkkenbenken.

Could we say Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken skal være ryddig instead? What’s the difference in meaning?

Yes, Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken skal være ryddig is grammatically correct, but the nuance is a bit different:

Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken er ryddig.
Focus: reality / habit – the fact is that the counter is tidy; that’s what we’re used to.
Vi er vant til at kjøkkenbenken skal være ryddig.
Focus: norm / expectation / rule – we are used to the idea that the counter is supposed to be tidy (for example, as a rule in a shared flat). It can sound a bit more like “we expect it to be tidy; that’s the standard.”

In everyday speech, to talk about what things are like in practice, … er ryddig is more straightforward and neutral.

With the plural alle, why doesn’t the verb change form? Why is it just alle rydder?

Norwegian verbs do not change form for person or number in the present tense. The same form rydder is used with all subjects:

jeg rydder – I tidy
du rydder – you tidy
han / hun rydder – he / she tidies
vi rydder – we tidy
dere rydder – you (plural) tidy
de rydder – they tidy
alle rydder – everyone tidies

So even though alle is plural, the verb stays rydder, not rydderer or anything else.