Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Han oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden, men sender ofte lenker i gruppechatten. - He rarely updates his profile, but often sends links in the group chat.

Han oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden, men sender ofte lenker i gruppechatten.

He rarely updates his profile, but often sends links in the group chat.

Breakdown of Han oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden, men sender ofte lenker i gruppechatten.

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Questions & Answers about Han oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden, men sender ofte lenker i gruppechatten.

Why is it oppdaterer and not oppdatere in this sentence?

Oppdaterer is the present tense form of the verb å oppdatere (to update).

In Norwegian:

å oppdatere = to update (infinitive)
han oppdaterer = he updates / he is updating (present)

Norwegian doesn’t use a separate -ing form like English. The simple present oppdaterer can mean both:

he updates (in general, habit)
he is updating (right now)

Here it describes a habitual action: he rarely updates his profile.

Why is it profilen sin and not hans profil?

Both are grammatically possible, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing:

profilen sin = his own profile (reflexive possessive)
hans profil = his profile (someone else’s, or at least not clearly his own)

In Norwegian, sin / si / sitt / sine are used when the owner is the subject of the same clause:

Han oppdaterer profilen sin.
= He updates his own profile.

If you say:

Han oppdaterer profilen hans.

this is normally understood as:
“He updates his (another man’s) profile.”

So profilen sin is the natural choice when the subject han is updating his own profile.

Why is it profilen sin and not just profil sin? Why the -en ending?

Norwegian has double definiteness in noun phrases with a possessive after the noun.

Pattern:

profil = profile (indefinite)
profilen = the profile (definite)
profilen sin = his (own) profile

So when the possessive (sin / hans / hennes etc.) comes after the noun, the noun normally takes the definite ending:

boken min = my book
huset vårt = our house
profilen sin = his own profile

If you move the possessive before the noun, you don’t use the definite ending:

min bok (not min boken)
vårt hus (not vårt huset)

But in this sentence the possessive comes after, so you need profilen + sin.

What is the difference between sjelden and ofte, and why are they placed there in the sentence?

Sjelden = rarely, seldom
Ofte = often

They are adverbs of frequency, and in main clauses in Norwegian they usually go after the verb:

Han oppdaterer sjelden. (He rarely updates.)
Han sender ofte lenker. (He often sends links.)

In your sentence:

Han oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden
- verb: oppdaterer
- object: profilen sin
- adverb: sjelden
(han) sender ofte lenker
- verb: sender
- adverb: ofte
- object: lenker

This verb–adverb position (V + adverb) is very typical in Norwegian main clauses.

Could I say Han sjelden oppdaterer profilen sin instead?

No, not in normal Norwegian word order.

In a main clause, the finite verb must come in second position (the V2 rule):

Han oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden. ✅
(Subject Han = first slot, oppdaterer = second slot)

Han sjelden oppdaterer profilen sin ❌ breaks this rule:
The verb oppdaterer is no longer in the second position.

You could move sjelden to the front and still keep V2:

Sjelden oppdaterer han profilen sin. ✅
(Adverb in front, verb still in second position)

What exactly is lenker? Is that singular or plural?

Lenker is the indefinite plural of lenke:

en lenke = a link
lenken = the link
lenker = links
lenkene = the links

So sender ofte lenker means (he) often sends links (more than one, in general).

Why is it i gruppechatten and not something like på gruppechatten?

In Norwegian, i is typically used for being in / inside something, including:

i gruppa = in the group
i chatten = in the chat
i gruppechatten = in the group chat

På is used with some digital contexts (e.g. på Facebook, på nettet), but for a specific chat or conversation space, i is more natural:

i samtalen (in the conversation)
i gruppechatten (in the group chat)

So sender ofte lenker i gruppechatten = he often sends links in the group chat.

What does gruppechatten consist of, and why is it one word?

Gruppechatten is a compound noun:

gruppe = group
chat = chat
gruppechat = group chat
gruppechatten = the group chat

Norwegian normally writes compound nouns as one word:

gruppechat (not gruppe chat)
fotballkamp (football match)
hustak (house roof)

Then it adds the definite ending to the whole compound:

gruppechatten = the group chat
fotballkampen = the football match

So i gruppechatten = in the group chat.

Why is there a comma before men, and how does men affect the word order?

Men means but and is a coordinating conjunction.

Comma:
In Norwegian, you normally put a comma before men when it links two main clauses:
- Han oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden, men sender ofte lenker i gruppechatten.
Both parts could stand alone as sentences:
- Han oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden.
- Han sender ofte lenker i gruppechatten.
Word order after men:
After men, the sentence that follows still follows normal main-clause word order (verb in second position):
- (men) sender han ofte lenker
- Subject han is understood and can be omitted, so we get:
  - men sender ofte lenker …
    (The implied subject han is still there in meaning.)

Why is it Han and not Ham at the beginning?

Han is the subject form of the pronoun (he).
Ham is the object form (him), and is mostly used in spoken or informal Norwegian; in formal written Bokmål you often see ham or sometimes han as object as well.

In your sentence, the pronoun is the subject of the verbs oppdaterer and sender, so you must use han:

Han oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden … ✅
Ham oppdaterer profilen sin sjelden … ❌

You would use ham (or han) as object, for example:

Jeg så ham i går. = I saw him yesterday.