Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Ordforrådet hennes blir større hver uke fordi hun leser norske artikler på nett. - Her vocabulary gets larger every week because she reads Norwegian articles online.

ordforrådet hennes (definite noun + possessive after):
- Is the most neutral and most common way to say “her vocabulary”.
- Literally: “the vocabulary of hers”.
hennes ordforråd (possessive before the noun):
- Sounds a bit more marked/emphatic, often used for contrast:
  - Hennes ordforråd er stort, men mitt er lite.
    “Her vocabulary is big, but mine is small.”

So in an ordinary statement like your sentence, ordforrådet hennes is the natural choice.

Why is it hennes and not sin / sitt / sine here?

Norwegian has two types of possessives:

hennes = “her” (independent possessive)
- Refers to a female person (someone previously mentioned).
- Can refer to any female, not necessarily the subject of the clause.
sin / sitt / sine (reflexive possessives)
- Refers back to the subject of the clause:
  - Hun utvider ordforrådet sitt.
    “She’s expanding her (own) vocabulary.”

In your sentence, the subject of the main clause is also hun, so Ordforrådet hennes and Ordforrådet hennes blir større … is fine. Many speakers would actually prefer sin if you rewrite:

Hun utvider ordforrådet sitt. (must refer to her own vocabulary)
But: Ordforrådet hennes blir større … is also very natural Norwegian.

You can’t write Ordforrådet sitt blir større … on its own, because sitt must clearly refer back to a subject in the same clause; here the subject is ordforrådet, not hun.

What is the difference between hun, henne, and hennes?

They are three different forms of the pronoun “she/her”:

hun = subject form (“she”)
- Hun leser norske artikler.
  “She reads Norwegian articles.”
henne = object form (“her” as object)
- Jeg ser henne.
  “I see her.”
hennes = possessive (“her”, belonging to her)
- Ordforrådet hennes blir større.
  “Her vocabulary is getting bigger.”

Why is it blir større and not just er større?

blir større = “becomes bigger / is getting bigger”.
- Expresses change over time.
er større = “is bigger”.
- Describes a state, not necessarily a process of growth.

The English idea “her vocabulary is getting bigger” is best rendered with blir større in Norwegian, because it clearly indicates development.

Why is blir in the present tense here? How can present mean a repeated or ongoing action?

Norwegian uses the simple present much more than English:

Ordforrådet hennes blir større hver uke
Literally: “Her vocabulary becomes bigger every week.”
Meaning: “Her vocabulary is getting bigger week by week.”

The combination of:

Present tense blir, and
The time expression hver uke (“every week”),

tells us that this is a repeated, ongoing process, similar to English “keeps getting larger”, “is growing”.

What does hver uke mean, and could it go in another position?

hver uke = “every week”.

In your sentence:

Ordforrådet hennes blir større hver uke fordi hun leser …

This is normal and natural, but you can also move it:

Ordforrådet hennes blir større fordi hun leser norske artikler på nett hver uke.

Both are correct. Moving hver uke later can slightly emphasize that it’s the reading that happens every week. In practice, both word orders are common and acceptable.

What does fordi mean, and how does it affect word order?

fordi = “because”.

It starts a subordinate clause (fordi hun leser norske artikler på nett). In this type of clause, Norwegian word order is usually:

Subject – Verb – (Object/Adverbials)

So we say:

fordi hun leser norske artikler på nett
not
fordi leser hun norske artikler på nett (that would be wrong here).

The verb does not move to second place after fordi; it stays after the subject.

Can I say fordi at instead of just fordi?

You will hear fordi at in spoken Norwegian, but:

In standard written Norwegian, fordi alone is preferred.
fordi at can sound colloquial or dialectal, sometimes wordy.

So your sentence is best as:

Ordforrådet hennes blir større hver uke fordi hun leser norske artikler på nett.

Why is it norske artikler and not norsk artikler?

Adjectives in Norwegian must agree with the noun in number and definiteness.

artikler = plural indefinite of artikkel (“article”).
For plural indefinite nouns, the adjective gets -e:
- en norsk artikkel → norske artikler (Norwegian articles)

So:

Singular: en norsk artikkel
Plural: norske artikler

Why is it artikler and not artiklene?

artikler = “articles” (indefinite plural, some articles, not specified which).
artiklene = “the articles” (definite plural, specific known articles).

In your sentence, we’re talking about articles in general that she reads on the internet, not some specific ones already known from context. Therefore artikler (indefinite) is correct.

What does på nett mean, and how is it different from på nettet or på internett?

All of these relate to being online:

på nett = “online / on the net”.
- Very common and natural, slightly more informal.
på nettet = literally “on the net”.
- Also common and perfectly correct; maybe a bit more explicit.
på internett = “on the internet”.
- Clear, a bit more formal or neutral.

In everyday language, på nett and på nettet are extremely common and often interchangeable in sentences like this.

Could we leave out norske and just say artikler på nett?

Yes, grammatically you can say:

… fordi hun leser artikler på nett.

But then the meaning changes to just “because she reads articles online” without specifying the language.

With norske artikler, the sentence specifically says “Norwegian articles”, making clear that reading in Norwegian is what’s helping her vocabulary in Norwegian grow.

Is the word order Ordforrådet hennes blir større … an example of the V2 rule?

Yes.

Norwegian main clauses usually follow the V2 rule: the verb is in second position.

In:

Ordforrådet hennes blir større hver uke …

We can break it down:

Ordforrådet hennes = first element (subject)
blir = finite verb in second position
the rest: større hver uke fordi hun leser norske artikler på nett

So the sentence respects the V2 rule in the main clause.
In the subordinate clause after fordi, we do not use V2; there it’s subject–verb: hun leser.

Could we say Ordforrådet hennes vokser or Ordforrådet hennes øker instead of blir større?

Yes, both are possible, but they have slightly different feels:

Ordforrådet hennes blir større
Very natural, everyday phrase. Literally “her vocabulary becomes bigger”.
Ordforrådet hennes vokser
Also natural. “Her vocabulary grows.” Slightly more metaphorical/direct.
Ordforrådet hennes øker
“Her vocabulary increases.”
Sounds a bit more formal/technical, like talking about numbers or measurable quantities.

In everyday spoken and written language, blir større is very common and neutral.