Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Før hvert nattskift legger hun fram flytevesten til barna, fordi de skal på svømmekurs neste morgen. - Before each night shift she lays out the life jacket for the children, because they are going to a swimming course the next morning.

Fronted element (position 1): Før hvert nattskift (Before every night shift)
Verb (position 2): legger
Subject (position 3): hun
Rest: fram flytevesten til barna, …

So we get:

✅ Før hvert nattskift legger hun fram …
❌ Før hvert nattskift hun legger fram … (breaks the V2 rule)

If the sentence started with the subject instead, it would be:

Hun legger fram flytevesten til barna før hvert nattskift.
(Here “hun” is position 1, “legger” is still in position 2.)

What does legger fram mean? How is it different from just legger?

Legger fram (also written legger frem) is a phrasal verb:

legge = to lay / put
legge fram = to lay out / to put out / to present

In this context:

legger hun fram flytevesten ≈ “she lays out the life jacket” (she places it ready for use)

If you only say legger without fram, the meaning is more general:

legger flytevesten på bordet = “puts the life jacket on the table”

Legge fram often suggests:

putting something somewhere in preparation or
presenting something (e.g. legge fram et forslag = present a proposal)

Here it’s the “lay out / set out in advance” meaning.

Is there any difference between fram and frem?

Semantically, no difference in modern Norwegian:

fram and frem are just two spellings of the same word (“forward”, “out”, “forth”).

Usage tendencies:

Both forms are correct in Bokmål.
fram is somewhat more common in everyday writing.
Many fixed expressions allow both:
- legge fram / legge frem
- gå fram / gå frem

So legger hun fram flytevesten and legger hun frem flytevesten are both fine.

Why is it flytevesten til barna and not something like barnas flytevester?

Both are possible, but they have slightly different structures and nuances.

flytevesten til barna
- Literally: “the life jacket to the children”
- Structure: [definite noun] + til + [possessor]
- Meaning: the life jacket belonging to the children
- Focus is on the object, then we add whose it is.
barnas flytevester
- Literally: “the children’s life jackets”
- Structure: [possessor in -s] + [noun (often indefinite)]
- Meaning: the children’s life jackets
- Focus starts with the possessor (the children).

In this sentence, flytevesten til barna suggests she’s laying out the life jacket(s) the children will use. Grammatically, it’s:

flytevesten = the life jacket (definite singular)
til barna = belonging to the children (barna = “the children”)

Note: In everyday speech, flytevesten til barna can still be used even if there is one life jacket per child, because the focus is not on exact number here, but on preparation for them.

Why is it barna and not barnene for “the children”?

The noun barn (child) is irregular in Norwegian:

Singular:
- et barn = a child
- barnet = the child
Plural:
- barn = children
- barna = the children (not barnene)

So:

til barna = to the children / for the children
til barnene is incorrect.

Why do we say på svømmekurs and not til svømmekurs or i svømmekurs?

Norwegian prepositions with activities often don’t match English exactly.

With many kinds of courses, school, work, etc., Norwegian commonly uses på:

på svømmekurs = at / to a swimming course
på kurs = at a course
på skolen = at school
på jobb = at work

In de skal på svømmekurs, på covers the idea of “going to attend” the course.

Other options:

til svømmekurset – could work if you emphasize movement to a specific course (event), but på svømmekurs is the natural phrase for “they are attending / going to swim class”.
i svømmekurs – not idiomatic in this sense; you wouldn’t say this.

Why is it de skal på svømmekurs instead of something like a future tense form?

Norwegian doesn’t have a dedicated “will do” future tense like English. It uses:

present tense with a time expression
or skal / vil plus infinitive

In de skal på svømmekurs neste morgen:

skal
- prepositional phrase (på svømmekurs)
expresses a planned / scheduled future event.

Alternatives:

De er på svømmekurs neste morgen.
Present tense with time adverbial, also possible, but skal is more explicit about future intention/plan here.

So skal roughly corresponds to “are going to” or “will (as planned)”.

Why is there a comma before fordi: …, fordi de skal på svømmekurs…?

Fordi introduces a subordinate clause (a clause that depends on the main clause and gives the reason: “because …”).

In written Bokmål:

You normally use a comma before a subordinate clause that follows the main clause.

So:

Main clause: Før hvert nattskift legger hun fram flytevesten til barna,
Subordinate clause: fordi de skal på svømmekurs neste morgen.

Hence the comma:
…, fordi de skal på svømmekurs neste morgen.

If the fordi-clause comes first, you don’t put a comma between it and the main clause:

Fordi de skal på svømmekurs neste morgen, legger hun fram flytevesten til barna.

What’s the difference between før and først in this kind of context?

They are different words with different meanings:

før = before (preposition or conjunction)
- Før hvert nattskift legger hun fram flytevesten …
  = Before each night shift she lays out the life jacket …
først = first (adverb), often about order in a sequence:
- Hun legger først fram flytevesten, og så legger hun seg.
  = She first lays out the life jacket, and then she goes to bed.

So you cannot replace før with først in Før hvert nattskift; that would change the meaning and be ungrammatical.

Why is it neste morgen and not i neste morgen?

In Norwegian, you normally talk about “next morning” without a preposition:

neste morgen = the next morning
neste uke = next week
neste år = next year

So:

… neste morgen = … the next morning

Using i here (i neste morgen) is not idiomatic.
However, with some time expressions i is used:

i morgen = tomorrow
i fjor = last year
i dag = today

But with neste + time word, you don’t add i.

Why is everything in the present tense: legger hun fram … fordi de skal på svømmekurs neste morgen if it’s about the future?

Norwegian often uses present tense for future events, especially:

scheduled events
habitual actions
when there’s a clear time reference

In the sentence:

legger hun fram – present tense, describing a habitual action (what she does before each night shift)
de skal på svømmekurs neste morgen – skal
- time adverbial (neste morgen) describe a planned future event.

This is completely natural Norwegian:

Present for general habit
skal to show a future plan tied to that habit.

You don’t need a special “will do” future form.