Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Vi rekker ikke fristen, med mindre vi fyller ut søknaden i kveld. - We will not make the deadline unless we fill out the application tonight.

To reach (physically)
- Jeg rekker ikke hyllen. – I can’t reach the shelf.
To have enough time / to make it (on time) – this is the meaning in your sentence.
- Vi rekker ikke fristen. – We won’t make the deadline / We don’t have time to meet the deadline.
- Rekker du bussen? – Will you catch the bus?
To be enough / to suffice (in time)
- Maten rekker til alle. – The food is enough for everyone.

So in Vi rekker ikke fristen, rekker = manage to meet / make (the deadline) in a time sense.

Why is ikke placed after rekker and not before it?

In a normal main-clause statement in Norwegian, the verb usually comes in second position, and ikke comes after the verb:

Vi rekker ikke fristen.
- Vi (subject)
- rekker (verb in 2nd position)
- ikke (negation)
- fristen (object)

You cannot say Vi ikke rekker fristen in standard Norwegian; that sounds wrong. The pattern Subject – Verb – ikke – … is very typical:

Jeg forstår ikke. – I don’t understand.
Han kommer ikke i dag. – He isn’t coming today.

What exactly does fristen mean, and why does it end in -en?

The noun is en frist (indefinite) = a deadline / time limit.

frist – deadline (indefinite form)
fristen – the deadline (definite form, masculine)

In Norwegian, the definite singular for many masculine nouns adds -en:

en stol → stolen (chair → the chair)
en plan → planen (plan → the plan)
en frist → fristen (deadline → the deadline)

So fristen = the deadline.

How do you say unless in Norwegian, and is med mindre the only option?

med mindre is the most common and straightforward translation of unless:

Vi rekker ikke fristen, med mindre vi fyller ut søknaden i kveld.
– We won’t make the deadline unless we fill out the application tonight.

You can also express unless with hvis ikke, which is more literally if not:

Vi rekker ikke fristen hvis vi ikke fyller ut søknaden i kveld.

Both are natural. Differences:

med mindre is a fixed conjunction meaning unless.
hvis ikke is slightly more literal and sometimes feels a bit more informal or explanatory, but it’s very common too.

Word order after med mindre stays normal for a subordinate clause:
med mindre + subject + verb + …

Why is there a comma before med mindre?

Norwegian normally uses a comma between:

a main clause and a following subordinate clause

Here we have:

Main clause: Vi rekker ikke fristen
Subordinate clause (condition): med mindre vi fyller ut søknaden i kveld

So you write:

Vi rekker ikke fristen, med mindre vi fyller ut søknaden i kveld.

This is a standard comma rule: main clause , subordinate clause.

What does fyller ut mean, and why is there a separate word ut?

The basic verb is å fylle = to fill (in general):

å fylle et glass – to fill a glass

å fylle ut is a phrasal verb meaning to fill out / fill in (a form):

å fylle ut et skjema / en søknad – to fill out a form / an application

The particle ut adds the idea of completing the filling, like English fill out a form.

Conjugation:

Infinitive: å fylle ut
Present: jeg fyller ut
Past: jeg fylte ut
Past participle: har fylt ut

In your sentence:

vi fyller ut søknaden – we fill out the application / we are filling out the application.

Why is søknaden in the definite form, not just søknad?

The noun is en søknad = an application.

en søknad – an application (indefinite singular)
søknaden – the application (definite singular)

We use the definite form when both speaker and listener know which specific application is meant:

It’s obvious from context: maybe there is one important application they’re working on.
So søknaden = that specific application we’ve been talking about.

This is similar to English the application, not an application.

Is søknad the same as English application, or is there a false friend like applikasjon?

søknad is the normal word for application in the sense of:

job application
application for a visa, grant, loan, permit, etc.

Examples:

en jobbsøknad – a job application
en søknad om visum – a visa application

applikasjon exists in Norwegian, but it usually means (software) application / app, or in technical/medical contexts. It is not used for things like applying for a job or a visa.

So here søknaden clearly means the application form / application document.

Why is the present tense used in vi rekker ikke fristen and vi fyller ut søknaden i kveld when it’s about the future?

Norwegian often uses present tense to talk about future events, especially when there is:

a time expression (like i kveld), or
a clear future context.

Examples:

Vi rekker ikke fristen. – We won’t make the deadline.
Vi fyller ut søknaden i kveld. – We’ll fill out the application tonight.
Jeg drar til Oslo i morgen. – I’m going to Oslo tomorrow.

You can also use skal for future:

Vi skal ikke rekke fristen – sounds odd here; usually you don’t plan not to make the deadline.
Vi skal fylle ut søknaden i kveld. – We’re going to fill out the application tonight.

But very often the simple present + a time expression is the most natural way to express the future.

Does i kveld mean this evening or tonight, and is there any difference from i natt?

i kveld literally means this evening, and in many contexts it overlaps with English tonight (when you mean the evening part of tonight).

i kveld – this evening / tonight (evening)
i natt – tonight (nighttime), or during the night

Rough guideline:

i kveld: from late afternoon/early evening until bedtime.
- Vi ser en film i kveld. – We’ll watch a movie tonight (this evening).
i natt: during the night, usually when people are sleeping.
- Det regnet i natt. – It rained last night / during the night.

In your sentence, i kveld is the correct choice, since you normally fill out an application in the evening, not in the middle of the night.

Could I move i kveld earlier in the clause, like med mindre vi i kveld fyller ut søknaden?

You can, and it’s grammatically correct:

… med mindre vi i kveld fyller ut søknaden.

But the most natural word order in everyday speech is usually:

… med mindre vi fyller ut søknaden i kveld.

Default order inside the clause is often:

subject – verb – (object) – time adverbial

Changing it to vi i kveld fyller ut søknaden sounds a bit more formal, poetic, or marked for emphasis on i kveld. It’s not wrong, just less neutral.

Could I replace Vi rekker ikke fristen with something like Vi klarer ikke fristen?

You normally would not say Vi klarer ikke fristen.

å rekke fristen is the natural expression for to make the deadline / reach the deadline in time.
å klare noe = to manage / succeed / cope with something, but it sounds odd with frist.

Natural alternatives:

Vi rekker ikke tidsfristen. – We won’t make the deadline.
Vi klarer ikke å bli ferdige i tide. – We won’t manage to finish in time.
Vi blir ikke ferdige før fristen. – We won’t be done before the deadline.

So to talk directly about a deadline, stick with rekke (fristen / tidsfristen).

How do you pronounce rekker, søknaden, and kveld?

Approximate pronunciation (Bokmål / standard Eastern Norwegian):

rekker:
- IPA: [ˈrɛkːər]
- Roughly like REK-ker, with a short e and a doubled k (strong / long consonant).
søknaden:
- IPA: [ˈsøːknɑdn̩] (the final -en is often a light syllabic n)
- sø: like French deux, German ö; lips rounded.
- Stress on the first syllable: SØK-na-den.
kveld:
- IPA: [kvɛl] or [kʋɛl]
- The d is usually silent.
- Sounds a bit like kvel (rhyming loosely with fell).

In normal connected speech:

Vi rekker ikke fristen, med mindre vi fyller ut søknaden i kveld.
will be quite smooth, with some sounds reduced, especially ikke → [ˈɪkːə] and final consonants softened depending on dialect.