Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Hun har utenlandsk bakgrunn, men vil søke om norsk statsborgerskap neste år. - She has a foreign background, but wants to apply for Norwegian citizenship next year.

Hun har utenlandsk bakgrunn, men vil søke om norsk statsborgerskap neste år.

She has a foreign background, but wants to apply for Norwegian citizenship next year.

Breakdown of Hun har utenlandsk bakgrunn, men vil søke om norsk statsborgerskap neste år.

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Questions & Answers about Hun har utenlandsk bakgrunn, men vil søke om norsk statsborgerskap neste år.

Why is there no article before utenlandsk bakgrunn? In English we would say a foreign background.

In Norwegian, many abstract or general characteristics are used without an article when you are speaking about them in a general sense.

So utenlandsk bakgrunn literally looks like foreign background, not a foreign background.

You often skip the article with things like:

hun har utenlandsk bakgrunn – she has a foreign background
han har høy utdanning – he has a high level of education
de har lang erfaring – they have long experience

If you add an article, it usually makes it sound more specific or contrastive:

Hun har en utenlandsk bakgrunn.
This can sound like you are focusing on one particular background among possible backgrounds (for example, in a longer explanation or contrast). It is not grammatically wrong, but the version without en is more neutral and more common in this context.

Why do you use har with bakgrunn? Could you say something with er instead?

Har is used because bakgrunn is treated as something you have (a possession/attribute), not something you are.

Hun har utenlandsk bakgrunn.
Literally: She has foreign background.

Norwegian often uses ha with nouns to describe characteristics:

Han har norsk statsborgerskap. – He has Norwegian citizenship.
Hun har to barn. – She has two children.
De har mye penger. – They have a lot of money.

If you wanted to use er, you would normally switch to an adjective:

Hun er utenlandsk. – She is foreign.

So:

har + noun (har utenlandsk bakgrunn)
er + adjective (er utenlandsk)

What exactly does utenlandsk mean, and how is it different from fra utlandet?

Utenlandsk is an adjective meaning foreign (from another country).

utenlandsk bakgrunn – foreign background
utenlandske filmer – foreign films
utenlandsk arbeidstillatelse – foreign work permit

Fra utlandet literally means from abroad / from a foreign country and is more of a prepositional phrase rather than an adjective:

Hun kommer fra utlandet. – She comes from abroad.
Han importerer varer fra utlandet. – He imports goods from abroad.

Sometimes you can use either, but the grammar changes:

Hun har utenlandsk bakgrunn. (adjective + noun)
Hun har bakgrunn fra utlandet. (noun + prepositional phrase)

Both are understandable. Utenlandsk bakgrunn is more compact and idiomatic.

Why is there a comma before men?

Men is a coordinating conjunction meaning but. In Norwegian, you normally put a comma before conjunctions like:

og – and
men – but
for – for / because
eller – or (in some cases)

when they join two main clauses.

In the sentence:

Hun har utenlandsk bakgrunn, men vil søke om norsk statsborgerskap neste år.

You have two main clauses:

Hun har utenlandsk bakgrunn.
(Hun) vil søke om norsk statsborgerskap neste år.

Because men connects these two clauses, you use a comma before it.

What does vil mean here – will or wants to? Why not use skal?

In this sentence, vil mainly expresses wish/intention:

Hun vil søke om norsk statsborgerskap neste år.
≈ She wants to apply for Norwegian citizenship next year.

Vil can mean:

wants to (volition, desire)
sometimes will / is likely to (assumption about the future)

Skal is more about:

planned arrangements
obligations/duties
simple future in many contexts

Compare:

Hun vil søke om statsborgerskap.
She wants to apply (focus on her desire/intention).
Hun skal søke om statsborgerskap neste år.
She is going to apply next year / She is supposed to apply next year
(more like a plan or decided arrangement).

In your sentence, vil nicely highlights that it is something she wants to do next year.

Why do you say søke om and not just søke or søke til in this case?

With the meaning to apply for (a formal decision from an authority), Norwegian uses søke om + noun:

søke om norsk statsborgerskap – apply for Norwegian citizenship
søke om lån – apply for a loan
søke om visum – apply for a visa
søke om permisjon – apply for leave

Different prepositions give different meanings:

søke om noe – apply for something (permission/decision)
søke på en jobb / stilling – apply for a job/position
søke etter noe – search for something

So søke om norsk statsborgerskap is the standard, idiomatic phrase for apply for Norwegian citizenship.
Søke til would not be correct in this meaning.

Why is it norsk statsborgerskap without an article? Shouldn’t it be et norsk statsborgerskap?

It can be et norsk statsborgerskap, but in this context the article is usually dropped.

Statsborgerskap (citizenship) is often treated like a sort of status or legal condition that you have, and in this general sense, Norwegian commonly leaves out the article:

Hun vil søke om norsk statsborgerskap.
– She wants to apply for Norwegian citizenship (in general).

Adding et makes it sound a bit more like one specific citizenship (for example, when contrasting different types), but that nuance is small:

Hun vil ha et norsk statsborgerskap i tillegg til det hun har fra før.
– She wants a Norwegian citizenship in addition to the one she already has.

In your sentence, the article-less form norsk statsborgerskap is the most natural.

What is the difference between statsborgerskap and statsborger?

statsborgerskap (neuter noun) = citizenship
A legal status/relationship to a state.
statsborger (common-gender noun) = citizen
A person who has that citizenship.

Examples:

Han har norsk statsborgerskap. – He has Norwegian citizenship.
Han er norsk statsborger. – He is a Norwegian citizen.
De norske statsborgerne må ha gyldig pass. – The Norwegian citizens must have a valid passport.

Why do adjectives like utenlandsk and norsk not change form here?

Both utenlandsk and norsk end in -sk, and they follow the regular adjective rules, but in this sentence they happen to appear in a form that doesn’t change.

In indefinite singular before a noun:

en utenlandsk bakgrunn
et norsk statsborgerskap
en norsk mann
et norsk flagg

The adjective stays in its base form (no extra -t or -e after -sk).

In definite or plural, you usually add -e:

den utenlandske bakgrunnen – the foreign background
det norske statsborgerskapet – the Norwegian citizenship
norske statsborgere – Norwegian citizens

So they do change in other contexts; they just appear in their base form in your sentence.

Can I move neste år to the beginning, like Neste år vil hun søke om norsk statsborgerskap?

Yes, that is perfectly correct, and very natural.

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule (the verb is in second position):

Hun (subject) vil (verb) søke om norsk statsborgerskap neste år.
Neste år (time expression) vil (verb) hun søke om norsk statsborgerskap.

In both cases, the finite verb (vil) is in second position:

[Subject] + [Verb] + ...
[Adverbial] + [Verb] + [Subject] + ...

Both word orders are common. Putting Neste år first adds a bit more emphasis on the time.

Why is the present tense used in vil søke when it refers to next year?

Norwegian normally expresses the future using:

present tense + future time expression, and/or
modals like skal and vil.

In your sentence:

Hun vil søke om norsk statsborgerskap neste år.

the structure is:

vil søke – modal verb + infinitive
neste år – future time expression

This is completely normal for talking about the future. Some parallel patterns in English:

She is going to apply next year.
She wants to apply next year.

Norwegian does not have a special future tense form of the verb (like will apply in English). It uses present tense plus context (time words and/or modal verbs).

What gender are bakgrunn, statsborgerskap and år, and does that affect this sentence?

bakgrunn – common gender (en bakgrunn)
statsborgerskap – neuter (et statsborgerskap)
år – neuter (et år)

In your sentence, the gender does not visibly affect the forms, because:

bakgrunn is in the indefinite singular without an article: utenlandsk bakgrunn
statsborgerskap is also indefinite singular without an article: norsk statsborgerskap
år appears without article and without adjective agreement: neste år (the adjective neste has the same form for all genders in singular)

But if you change the form, gender shows up:

den utenlandske bakgrunnen (definite, common gender)
det norske statsborgerskapet (definite, neuter)
et nytt år / to nye år (neuter noun, adjective agrees)