Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Han betaler deltakeravgiften til barnas svømmekurs samtidig som han leser lønnslippen. - He pays the participation fee for the children's swimming course while he reads the payslip.

deltaker = participant
- from delta (to participate) + -er (person who does something)
avgift = fee, charge
deltakeravgift = participation fee (indefinite form)
deltakeravgiften = the participation fee (definite form, singular)

So Han betaler deltakeravgiften = He pays *the participation fee.*

Why is it deltakeravgiften and not en deltakeravgift?

In Norwegian, you choose definite vs. indefinite based on whether the thing is known/specific in context, just like in English with the vs. a.

Han betaler deltakeravgiften
= He pays *the participation fee* (a specific one, e.g. the known fee for that course).
Han betaler en deltakeravgift
= He pays *a participation fee* (some fee, not specifically identified).

In a realistic context (children’s swimming course, one official fee), it’s natural to treat it as a specific, known fee, so the definite form deltakeravgiften is used.

What does til barnas svømmekurs mean, and why do we use til here?

Til barnas svømmekurs means “for the children’s swimming course” (literally: “to the children’s swimming course”).

The preposition til is used in several ways in Norwegian, including:

Direction:
- Jeg går til skolen. = I walk to (towards) the school.
Recipient / destination of something (like money or fees):
- Han betaler deltakeravgiften til barnas svømmekurs.
  = He pays the participation fee for (literally: to) the children’s swimming course.

In English, we’d naturally say for here, but Norwegian often uses til when money or fees go to a certain purpose, account, or event.

Why is it barnas svømmekurs and not barna sitt svømmekurs or barna sine svømmekurs?

Norwegian has two main ways to express possession:

s-genitive (like English’s ’s):
- barna = the children
- barnas = the children’s
- barnas svømmekurs = the children’s swimming course
“sine/sitt/sin” construction (reflexive possessives):
- barna sitt svømmekurs (colloquial, especially in some dialects)
- barna sine svømmekurs (plural “courses”)

In standard written Bokmål, barnas svømmekurs is the most neutral and correct form here.

Barna sitt svømmekurs is acceptable in spoken Norwegian and in some informal writing, but it sounds more dialectal/colloquial. For a textbook or standard sentence, barnas svømmekurs is preferred.

What is the difference between samtidig som and mens? Could we say mens han leser lønnslippen instead?

Both samtidig som and mens can express that two actions happen at the same time:

samtidig som = at the same time as
mens = while

In this sentence:

Han betaler deltakeravgiften ... samtidig som han leser lønnslippen.
Han betaler deltakeravgiften ... mens han leser lønnslippen.

Both are grammatically correct and have nearly the same meaning.

Nuance:

mens is shorter and very common in everyday speech.
samtidig som can feel a bit more explicit, sometimes a little more formal or emphasizing the simultaneity.

So yes, mens han leser lønnslippen is absolutely fine here.

Why is the word order samtidig som han leser lønnslippen and not samtidig som leser han lønnslippen?

After som (and similarly after at, fordi, når, etc.), you’re in a subordinate clause, and the word order changes compared to a main clause.

Main clause (verb in 2nd position – V2 rule):

Han leser lønnslippen.
(Subject Han, then verb leser.)

Subordinate clause (introduced by som):

... som han leser lønnslippen.
(Conjunction som, then subject han, then verb leser.)

So:

samtidig som han leser lønnslippen = correct
samtidig som leser han lønnslippen = incorrect word order in Norwegian

Can we move the samtidig som clause to the beginning of the sentence?

Yes. You can put the time clause first:

Samtidig som han leser lønnslippen, betaler han deltakeravgiften til barnas svømmekurs.

Two things to notice:

You need a comma after the subordinate clause when it comes first.
After the comma, you’re back in a main clause, so the verb must be in second position:
- betaler han, not han betaler in that position.

So:

Samtidig som han leser lønnslippen, betaler han deltakeravgiften ... = correct
Samtidig som han leser lønnslippen, han betaler deltakeravgiften ... = incorrect

What does lønnslippen mean, and what is its base form?

Lønnslippen means “the payslip” or “the pay stub”.

lønn = salary, wages
slipp / slipp(en) = slip (as in a piece of paper; often spelled slipp or slipp-en historically)
compound: lønnslipp = payslip (indefinite singular)
lønnslippen = the payslip (definite singular)

So the base dictionary form is en lønnslipp (a payslip).
In the sentence, lønnslippen is definite because it refers to his specific payslip, presumably just received.

Why is it han betaler at the beginning and not betaler han?

In a normal main clause with a simple subject first, Norwegian typically follows:

Subject – Verb – (Object / other information)

So:

Han betaler deltakeravgiften ...
- Han (subject)
- betaler (verb)
- deltakeravgiften (object)

We only invert it to Verb – Subject in certain cases, such as when another element comes first (time, place, etc.):

I dag betaler han deltakeravgiften.
- I dag (adverbial in first position)
- betaler (verb)
- han (subject)

Since nothing comes before the subject in your sentence, Han betaler ... is the correct word order.

Is svømmekurs definite or indefinite here, and could we say svømmekurset instead?

In the sentence, svømmekurs is in the indefinite singular form:

et svømmekurs = a swimming course (indefinite)
svømmekurset = the swimming course (definite)

The phrase is:

til barnas svømmekurs
literally, “to the children’s swimming course”, but grammatically, svømmekurs is indefinite.

This kind of construction (til + possessor + indefinite noun) is common in Norwegian and can still refer to a specific course. If you say:

til barnas svømmekurset – this is wrong (double definiteness problem).

You could theoretically say:

til barnas svømmekurs (standard, natural)
til svømmekurset til barna (also correct, but heavier / more wordy)

But svømmekurset cannot directly follow barnas here.

Why don’t we see an article like et before svømmekurs in barnas svømmekurs?

In Norwegian, when you have a possessive in front of a noun (like min, din, hans, barnas), you normally don’t use an article:

barnas svømmekurs
not: barnas et svømmekurs

Similarly:

min bil = my car (not: min en bil)
hennes bok = her book (not: hennes en bok)

So possession + noun normally replaces the article in front position:

Possessive + indefinite noun: barnas svømmekurs
Possessive + definite noun (other pattern): svømmekurset deres (the children’s swimming course)

How would the sentence change if there were several children’s swimming courses and he is paying for more than one?

You would pluralize svømmekurs (and possibly deltakeravgift, depending on meaning).

Singular (original idea):

Han betaler deltakeravgiften til barnas svømmekurs ...
= He pays the participation fee for the children’s swimming course.

If there are several courses, and he is paying one fee that covers all of them (less common, but possible), you might keep deltakeravgiften singular but make svømmekurs plural:

Han betaler deltakeravgiften til barnas svømmekurs
(In practice, context would have to clarify; the form svømmekurs is the same in singular and plural indefinite.)

If he is paying separate fees for several courses:

Han betaler deltakeravgiftene til barnas svømmekurs.
= He pays the participation fees for the children’s swimming courses.

Here:

deltakeravgifter = participation fees (indefinite plural)
deltakeravgiftene = the participation fees (definite plural)

Are there alternative words or spellings for deltakeravgift and lønnslipp that I might see?

Yes, Norwegian allows some variation:

deltakeravgift / deltakeravgift
- Sometimes you may also see deltakelsesavgift, but deltakeravgift is much more common and more natural.
lønnslipp:
- You might also see lønnsslipp (with double s), which is very common spelling.
- In practice, lønnsslipp (indefinite) / lønnsslippen (definite) is what you’ll most often see in modern texts.

So the sentence could also appear as:

Han betaler deltakeravgiften til barnas svømmekurs samtidig som han leser lønnsslippen.

Same meaning, just a more common spelling for lønnslippen.