Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Nettsiden virker ikke i kveld.

virke – to work / function (often about machines, systems, technical things, also about things having an effect)
- PC-en min virker ikke. – My PC isn’t working.
fungere – to function, to work (very close to virke, a bit more neutral/formal)
- Systemet fungerer ikke. – The system doesn’t function / work.
være (er) – to be
- Nettsiden er nede. – The website is down. (describing a state, not the action of working)

In everyday speech about technology, virker ikke and fungerer ikke are both very common and usually interchangeable:

Nettsiden virker ikke.
Nettsiden fungerer ikke.

Both are fine and mean almost the same thing in this context.

Why is virker in the simple present, not something like a progressive “is working / is not working”?

Norwegian does not use a separate progressive form (like English is working) in the same way English does. The simple present virker covers both:

Nettsiden virker ikke i kveld.
= The website isn’t working tonight.
= The website doesn’t work tonight.

So even though English uses a progressive form (isn’t working) to stress that it’s a temporary situation, Norwegian normally just uses the plain present tense.

What is Nettsiden grammatically? Why the ending -en?

Nettsiden is definite singular of en nettside (a website).

en nettside – a website (indefinite, singular)
nettsiden – the website (definite, singular)
nettsider – websites (indefinite, plural)
nettsidene – the websites (definite, plural)

In Norwegian, the definite article “the” is usually added as a suffix:

bok → boka / boken – the book
bil → bilen – the car
nettside → nettsiden – the website

So Nettsiden virker ikke i kveld. literally is The-website works not tonight.

Could I say Nettsiden fungerer ikke i kveld instead? Is there a difference?

Yes, Nettsiden fungerer ikke i kveld. is perfectly correct and very natural.

Nuance:

virker – very common in speech when talking about whether something works at all.
fungerer – slightly more formal or neutral; used about systems, technical stuff, organizations, plans, etc.

In this sentence:

Nettsiden virker ikke i kveld.
Nettsiden fungerer ikke i kveld.

Both are fine; any difference is very small in normal conversation.

Why is ikke after virker and before i kveld? Can the word order change?

The usual neutral word order with negation is:

Subject – Verb – Ikke – (Other stuff)

So:

Nettsiden (subject)
virker (verb)
ikke (negation)
i kveld (time phrase)

→ Nettsiden virker ikke i kveld.

This is the most neutral and common order.

You can move i kveld to the front for emphasis on tonight:

I kveld virker ikke nettsiden. – Tonight, the website is not working.

This is also correct, but now i kveld is stressed. You wouldn’t normally say:

Nettsiden i kveld virker ikke.
Nettsiden virker i kveld ikke.

Those are either wrong or sound very strange in standard Norwegian.

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

The fixed expression for tonight is i kveld.

i dag – today
i morgen – tomorrow
i går – yesterday
i kveld – tonight, this evening

You use i for these time expressions. På with kveld is used differently:

på kvelden – in the evening / in the evenings (habitual or general)
- Jeg trener på kvelden. – I work out in the evenings.

But when you mean tonight (this particular evening), it’s i kveld, not på kveld:

Can I use i dag kveld or i denne kvelden for “tonight”?

Native speakers don’t usually say that. The natural expression is simply:

i kveld – tonight / this evening

The following sound strange or wrong in standard Norwegian in this meaning:

i dag kveld – not used
i denne kvelden – not used

If you need to be extra clear about which evening, you might say something like:

i kveld, altså mandag kveld – tonight, that is Monday evening

But the basic expression is just i kveld.

Why is there no word for it like den or det in this sentence?

In Norwegian, you don’t need a separate pronoun when the subject is already a noun.

English:

The website, it isn’t working tonight. (you can add it, though it’s redundant)

Norwegian:

Nettsiden virker ikke i kveld.
(you don’t add den / det after the noun)

You would only use den / det if the subject is the pronoun:

Den virker ikke i kveld. – It doesn’t work tonight. (referring back to something feminine/masculine)
Det virker ikke i kveld. – It doesn’t work tonight. (referring back to something neuter or to a situation in general)

But not:

Nettsiden den virker ikke i kveld. – This sounds clumsy or dialectal at best in standard written Bokmål.

Why is the negation ikke used here and not ingen?

Ikke is the general negation word: not.

Nettsiden virker ikke i kveld. – The website is not working tonight.

Ingen means no / none and is used with nouns (or as a pronoun):

Ingen nettsider virker. – No websites are working.
Jeg har ingen tid. – I have no time.
Ingen kom. – Nobody came.

So:

ikke negates verbs, adjectives, whole sentences:
- Jeg liker det ikke. – I don’t like it.
ingen negates nouns (no + noun):
- Jeg har ingen nettside. – I have no website.

In your sentence, we’re negating the verb virker, so we need ikke, not ingen.

Are there more colloquial ways to say virker ikke about a website?

Yes, in everyday speech you might hear:

Nettsiden funker ikke i kveld.
(funker is an informal version of fungerer)
Nettsiden er nede i kveld. – The website is down tonight.
Nettsiden har krasjet. – The website has crashed.

virker / fungerer – neutral, suitable in both speech and writing.
funker – informal/slang, avoid in formal writing.
er nede – common when talking about servers, services, websites.

How do you pronounce Nettsiden and virker?

Approximate pronunciation in IPA (standard Eastern Norwegian):

Nettsiden: [ˈnɛtːsiːdn̩]
- Stress on the first syllable: NETT-siden
- tt is a long t sound (a bit sharper/longer than English t)
- side sounds like SEE-deh, but the e in -en is very weak or almost gone in fast speech.
virker: [ˈʋìrkər] (the ì often a bit short)
- v is often a bit softer, between v and English w → [ʋ]
- r is a tapped or rolled r (not English r)
- Final -er is like a weak -ehr

So said slowly:

Nettsiden virker ikke i kveld.
≈ NETT-see-den VEER-ker EE-ke ee KVEL (with a rolled/trilled r and kv together like kv in kvell).