Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Nå er jeg vant til mørketiden i forstaden. - Now I am used to the dark season in the suburb.

vant = the past participle of å venne (seg) (to accustom / to get used to). In this expression it functions like an adjective: vant = “accustomed”.
til = the preposition “to”.

Together:

å være vant til noe = “to be used to something”

You almost always need til after vant when you mention what you are used to:

Jeg er vant til mørketiden. = I am used to the dark season.
Hun er vant til å stå opp tidlig. = She is used to getting up early.

You cannot say Jeg er vant mørketiden – the til is required.

Why is it er vant til and not something like har vant til?

In Norwegian, være vant til works like “to be used to” in English:

Jeg er vant til … = “I am used to …”

Vant here is not a main verb in the present perfect; it’s a participle used as an adjective, so you combine it with å være (to be), not å ha (to have).

Compare:

Jeg er vant til mørketiden.
= I am (now) in a state of being used to it.

If you want a form that corresponds more to English “have gotten used to”, you’d use a different verb:

Jeg har vent meg til mørketiden.
(literally: “I have accustomed myself to the dark season.”)

So:

er vant til = describes your current state (used to).
har vent (meg) til = describes the process of becoming used to.

Why is it mørketiden (definite form) and not just mørketid?

Mørketid is a common noun in Norwegian:

mørketid = “dark time/dark season” (indefinite)
mørketiden = “the dark time/the dark season” (definite)

In this sentence, the speaker is referring to a specific, known period: the dark season in that place. In Norwegian, when we mean a specific, recognizable phenomenon, we often use the definite form:

Mørketiden i Nord-Norge er veldig spesiell.
= The dark season in Northern Norway is very special.

If you say just mørketid, it sounds more generic or abstract:

Jeg liker ikke mørketid.
= I don’t like dark seasons / darkness in winter (in general).

Here, because they mean “the (particular) dark season in the suburb,” mørketiden (definite) is natural.

What exactly does mørketiden refer to in a Norwegian context?

Mørketiden literally means “the dark time”, but culturally it refers to:

The dark winter period, especially in the north of Norway, when the sun doesn’t rise at all (polar night), or when days are extremely short and dim.

Even in southern Norway, people may talk about mørketiden to mean the very dark, gloomy part of winter when daylight is limited, the sun is low, and it feels like it’s dark most of the time.

So vant til mørketiden = “used to that specific dark winter period and its atmosphere.”

What does forstaden mean, and how is it different from byen or sentrum?

forstad = suburb (literally: “fore-city / outside city”)
forstaden = the suburb (definite singular)

So:

i forstaden = “in the suburb”
i byen = “in the city”
i sentrum = “in the (city) center / downtown”

Typical usage:

Jeg bor i forstaden. = I live in the suburb.
Jeg bor i byen. = I live in the city.
Jeg bor i sentrum. = I live in the city centre/downtown.

Forstad implies a residential area outside the core city, similar to the English “suburb.”

Why do we say i forstaden and not på forstaden?

In Norwegian, you mostly use:

i for being inside an area (city, country, region, neighbourhood)
på for some islands, surfaces, and some fixed expressions

With settlements:

i byen (in the city)
i forstaden (in the suburb)
i landsbyen (in the village)

So i forstaden is the standard preposition because you’re inside that area. På forstaden would sound wrong in standard Bokmål.

Why is nå at the beginning of the sentence? Could I move it?

Norwegian has the V2 rule: the finite verb (here er) must come in second position in main clauses.

If you start with nå:

Nå (1st element) er (2nd) jeg (3rd) vant til …

That’s why the word order is Nå er jeg vant til …

You can move nå, but the verb must stay second:

Jeg er nå vant til mørketiden i forstaden.
Jeg er vant til mørketiden i forstaden nå.

All of these are grammatically correct; they just have slightly different rhythm and focus. Putting Nå first emphasizes the contrast with the past: “Now, (as opposed to before), I’m used to it.”

Is vant here an adjective or a verb? How does it relate to å venne (seg) til?

Historically, vant is the past participle of the verb å venne (seg) (to accustom / to get used to). In the expression å være vant til, it functions like an adjective:

å venne seg til noe = to get used to something
å være vant til noe = to be used to something

So in:

Nå er jeg vant til mørketiden …

er = “am” (verb)
vant = “used / accustomed” (adjectival participle)

Think of it as parallel to English:

“I am used to the dark season.” (used = adjective)

Can I say Nå har jeg blitt vant til mørketiden instead? What’s the difference?

Yes:

Nå har jeg blitt vant til mørketiden i forstaden.

is correct and natural.

Difference in nuance:

Nå er jeg vant til mørketiden …
Focuses on your current state: Now I’m used to it.
Nå har jeg blitt vant til mørketiden …
Emphasizes the process/change:
Now I have become used to it / I have gotten used to it (over time).

Both are common. The original sentence is a bit more neutral and state-focused.

How do you pronounce mørketiden and forstaden?

Using a rough English-based guide (Standard East Norwegian):

mørketiden: /ˈmør.kə.tiː.dən/
- mør ≈ “mur” but with rounded lips (like German ö in schön)
- ke ≈ “keh” but the r slightly colours the preceding vowel
- ti ≈ “tee”
- den ≈ “den” (unstressed, almost “dn”)
forstaden: /ˈfɔʂ.taː.dən/ (in many dialects the rst becomes a retroflex sound)
- for ≈ “for” with a slightly open o
- sta ≈ “staa” (long a, like “star” without the r)
- den ≈ “den” (again, often very weakly pronounced)

Stress is on the first syllable in both: MØR-ke-tiden, FOR-staden.

What gender is forstad, and is forstaden the only correct definite form?

Forstad is a feminine (or common-gender) noun in Bokmål, but like many feminine nouns, it normally takes the -en ending in everyday Bokmål:

Indefinite: en forstad (a suburb)
Definite: forstaden (the suburb)

In more explicitly feminine Bokmål, you could theoretically see:

ei forstad / forstada

but for forstad this is rare and would look unusual. Forstaden is by far the standard definite form in practice.

So the sentence:

… i forstaden.

is exactly what you’d expect.