Vi rydder stuen etter middag.

We tidy the living room after dinner.

Breakdown of Vi rydder stuen etter middag.

• vi: we
• middagen: the dinner
• etter: after
• stuen: the living room
• rydde: to clean up

Questions & Answers about Vi rydder stuen etter middag.

What does rydder mean exactly – is it “clean” or “tidy up”?

Rydder comes from the verb å rydde and usually means to tidy (up), clear up, put things in order.

In this sentence: Vi rydder stuen etter middag, it normally means:

• we put things back where they belong,
• we clear away toys, books, plates, etc.,
• we make the living room look neat.

If you want to stress washing or scrubbing, you’d more likely use:

• vaske – to wash (e.g. Vi vasker stuen – We wash/clean the living room)
• rengjøre – to clean (more formal: Vi rengjør stuen)

So rydde is about organising and clearing away mess, not necessarily about washing.

Why is it rydder and not rydde in this sentence?

Rydder is the present tense form of the verb å rydde.

Basic forms of rydde in Bokmål:

• Infinitive: å rydde – to tidy
• Present: rydder – tidy / tidy up (do tidy)
• Past: ryddet – tidied
• Present perfect: har ryddet – have tidied

Norwegian present tense doesn’t change with the subject, so it’s always rydder for:

• jeg rydder – I tidy
• du rydder – you tidy
• vi rydder – we tidy
• de rydder – they tidy

You only use rydde after å (the infinitive marker) or certain modal verbs:

• å rydde – to tidy
• Vi skal rydde stuen – We will tidy the living room.

Can Vi rydder stuen etter middag also mean “We will tidy the living room after dinner”?

Yes, it can.

Norwegian often uses the present tense to talk about a planned or expected future action, especially when you add a time expression like etter middag, i morgen, på lørdag, etc.

So depending on context, Vi rydder stuen etter middag can mean:

• We tidy the living room after dinner (habitual action), or
• We will tidy the living room after dinner (a plan for later today).

If you want to be very clear about the future, you can say:

• Vi skal rydde stuen etter middag. – We are going to tidy / We will tidy the living room after dinner.

Why is it stuen and not stue here?

Stuen is the definite singular form of stue (living room).

Pattern for this noun (Bokmål):

• en stue – a living room (indefinite)
• stuen – the living room (definite)

So:

• Vi rydder stue etter middag – is wrong (you’re missing the article or the ending).
• Vi rydder en stue etter middag – We tidy a living room after dinner (some living room, not specified).
• Vi rydder stuen etter middag – We tidy the living room after dinner (a specific one everyone knows about).

The sentence is talking about the family’s known living room, so stuen is the natural form.

Are stuen and stua the same thing?

They refer to the same room, but they are different forms of the definite:

• stuen – standard Bokmål definite form
• stua – more colloquial / spoken-style definite form, still accepted Bokmål

So you can say:

• Vi rydder stuen etter middag.
• Vi rydder stua etter middag.

Both are correct; stuen sounds a bit more neutral/standard, stua more informal or dialectal for many speakers.

Why is it etter middag and not etter middagen? What’s the difference?

Both are grammatically correct; they just have a slightly different nuance.

• etter middag – after (having) dinner / after dinner in general

  • Sounds more generic or habitual:
    
    • Vi rydder stuen etter middag. – We (usually) tidy the living room after dinner.

• etter middagen – after the dinner (a specific meal)

  • Often used when referring to a particular dinner:
    
    • Vi rydder stuen etter middagen i kveld. – We tidy the living room after the dinner this evening.

In everyday speech, etter middag is very common even when talking about today’s specific dinner, so using etter middag is completely natural.

Does middag mean “dinner” or “lunch” in Norwegian?

In modern Norwegian, middag usually means the main hot meal of the day, often translated as “dinner” or sometimes “supper” in English.

Typical meal words:

• frokost – breakfast
• lunsj – lunch
• middag – main afternoon/evening meal (what many English speakers call dinner)
• kveldsmat – light evening meal / supper (in some families)

So in this sentence, etter middag is naturally understood as after (the main) dinner. It does not mean “after noon” here.

Can I say Vi rydder opp stuen etter middag, or is that wrong?

It’s understandable and you may hear it, but more typical options are:

• Vi rydder stuen etter middag.
• Vi rydder opp i stuen etter middag.
• Vi rydder opp stuen etter middag. – also used, but some speakers find “rydder stuen” or “rydder opp i stuen” more natural.

General guide:

• rydde noe – tidy something
  
  • Vi rydder stuen. – We tidy the living room.
• rydde opp – clean up, clear up thoroughly (often without an object or with i
  • place):
    
    • Vi rydder opp. – We clean up.
    • Vi rydder opp i stuen. – We clean up in the living room.

Your original sentence Vi rydder stuen etter middag is perfectly natural and idiomatic.

Can I change the word order to Etter middag rydder vi stuen?

Yes, that is also correct Norwegian.

Both are fine:

• Vi rydder stuen etter middag.
• Etter middag rydder vi stuen.

Difference:

• When the sentence starts with Vi, the focus is more neutral or on who is doing it.
• When you start with Etter middag, you put a bit more emphasis on when it happens.

Notice the verb-second rule (V2) in main clauses:

• First element: Etter middag (a time phrase)
• Second element: rydder (the finite verb)
• Then subject: vi
• Then object: stuen

How do I say “We don’t tidy the living room after dinner”? Where do I put ikke?

You place ikke (not) after the verb in a normal statement:

• Vi rydder ikke stuen etter middag.
  
  • We do not tidy the living room after dinner.

If you front the time expression:

• Etter middag rydder vi ikke stuen.

Basic pattern in main clauses:
Subject – Verb – Ikke – (Object / other information)
→ Vi rydder ikke stuen etter middag.

Does this sentence describe something happening right now, or a habit?

It can describe either, depending on context. Norwegian uses the same present tense for:

1. Habitual actions:

   • Vi rydder stuen etter middag hver dag.
     
     • We tidy the living room after dinner every day.

2. Something happening right now (with an adverb like “now”):

   • Nå rydder vi stuen etter middag.
     
     • Now we are tidying the living room after dinner.

3. Planned near-future actions (as mentioned earlier):

   • Vi rydder stuen etter middag (i dag).
     
     • We’ll tidy the living room after dinner (today).

So Vi rydder stuen etter middag by itself is ambiguous; the situation and extra words like hver dag, nå, i dag clarify the exact meaning.

How do you pronounce Vi rydder stuen etter middag?

A fairly standard Eastern Norwegian pronunciation (approximate IPA):

• Vi – /vi/ (like English “vee”)
• rydder – /ˈrʏdːər/
  
  • r as a tapped/flapped sound
  • y like the German ü in “müde”
  • double dd gives a longer d sound
• stuen – /ˈstʉːən/ or often /ˈstʉːn/ in fast speech
  
  • u is a fronted u (like a very front “oo”)
• etter – /ˈɛtːər/
  
  • e as in English “get”
• middag – /ˈmɪdːɑːɡ/
  
  • first i like English “sit”
  • double dd again long d
  • final g is usually audible but not strongly released

Whole sentence (one possible version):

• /vi ˈrʏdːər ˈstʉː(ə)n ˈɛtːər ˈmɪdːɑːɡ/

Stress falls mainly on RYD-der, STU-en, ET-ter, MID-dag.