Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Under intervjuet spør de om hvorfor hun flyttet fra landet sitt til Norge. - During the interview they ask why she moved from her country to Norway.

under intervjuet ≈ during the interview
i intervjuet would focus more on in the interview as a situation or content (for example i intervjuet sier hun at … – in the interview she says that …).
mens intervjuet is not correct by itself. mens is a conjunction and needs a full clause:
- mens intervjuet pågår – while the interview is going on

So under intervjuet is the natural, short way to say during the interview.

Why is it intervjuet and not just intervju?

Intervju is a neuter noun: et intervju (an interview).

Norwegian usually marks “the” by a suffix on the noun:

et intervju = an interview
intervjuet = the interview

In this sentence we are talking about a specific interview, so the definite form intervjuet is used: under intervjuet = during the interview.

Why is it Under intervjuet spør de and not Under intervjuet de spør?

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

First position: some element (subject, time phrase, etc.)
Second position: the finite verb
Then the subject (if it wasn’t first) and the rest

Here:

Under intervjuet = first element (a time phrase)
spør = finite verb in second position
de = subject

So Under intervjuet spør de … is correct word order.
Under intervjuet de spør … breaks the V2 rule and sounds ungrammatical in standard Norwegian.

Why is it spør and not spørre?

The dictionary form is å spørre (to ask). In the present tense, Norwegian verbs have (almost) the same form for all persons:

jeg spør – I ask
du spør – you ask
han / hun spør – he / she asks
vi spør – we ask
de spør – they ask

So de spør = they ask.
spørre is only used as the infinitive (usually with å): å spørre = to ask.

Who does de refer to here, and could it be something else?

de is the subject pronoun they. In this context, it typically refers to the interviewers (the people conducting the interview).

You could also make that more explicit:

Under intervjuet spør intervjuerne om … – During the interview the interviewers ask about …

Or more generally:

Under intervjuet spør man om … – During the interview, one asks / people ask about …

But in the original sentence de is just an ordinary third‑person plural pronoun: they.

Why do we have both om and hvorfor? Isn’t one question word enough?

Here, om and hvorfor have different jobs:

spørre om = to ask about / to ask whether
hvorfor = why

So:

spør de om … = they ask about …
om hvorfor hun flyttet … = about why she moved …

The om belongs to the verb phrase spør om.
hvorfor introduces the indirect question (why she moved from her country to Norway).

Compare:

De spør om hun flyttet. – They ask if / whether she moved.
De spør hvorfor hun flyttet. – They ask why she moved.
De spør om hvorfor hun flyttet. – They ask about why she moved. (a bit more explicit, and slightly more formal/wordy than just hvorfor hun flyttet)

Why is it hvorfor hun flyttet and not hvorfor flyttet hun?

Hvorfor flyttet hun? is a direct question (what you actually say to someone).

In our sentence we have an indirect question (a reported question) inside a larger clause (spør de om …). In Norwegian, indirect questions use normal statement word order:

Direct: Hvorfor flyttet hun? – Why did she move?
Indirect: De spør hvorfor hun flyttet. – They ask why she moved.

So in indirect questions:

question word (hvorfor, hva, hvor, hvem etc.)
then subject
then verb

That’s why it’s hvorfor hun flyttet, not hvorfor flyttet hun.

Why is it flyttet and not flytter or har flyttet?

flytte = to move (change residence)

Main forms:

flytter – present: moves / is moving
flyttet – preterite (simple past): moved
har flyttet – present perfect: has moved

In this sentence we are talking about a completed action in the past (she moved from her country to Norway at some point). Norwegian often uses preterite for that:

hun flyttet fra landet sitt til Norge – she moved from her country to Norway

You could also say hun har flyttet fra landet sitt til Norge, but that often suggests a more present relevance (for example, you are focusing on the fact that she now lives in Norway). Both are possible; context decides which feels more natural.

Why is it fra her country and til Norway? Could you use av or another preposition?

For movement:

fra = from (away from a place)
til = to (towards a place)

So:

flytte fra et land – move from a country
flytte til et land – move to a country

av is not used for this kind of physical or geographical movement. av is used in other meanings, for example:

laget av tre – made of wood
sett av mange – seen by many

So flyttet fra landet sitt til Norge is the correct prepositional pair for moving from one country to another.

Why is it landet sitt and not landet hennes?

This is about the difference between reflexive and non‑reflexive possessives.

sin / si / sitt / sine are reflexive possessives.
hans / hennes / deres are non‑reflexive possessives.

Reflexive possessives refer back to the subject of the same clause:

hun flyttet fra landet sitt
- hun = subject
- landet sitt = her own country

If you say landet hennes here, it usually means someone else’s country (another woman’s country), not the subject’s own.

So:

hun flyttet fra landet sitt – she moved from her own country
hun flyttet fra landet hennes – she moved from her (another woman’s) country

That’s why sitt is used: it shows that the country belongs to hun, the subject of the clause.

Why is it landet with -et at the end?

land is a neuter noun: et land (a country).

Neuter nouns form the definite singular with -et:

et land – a country
landet – the country

So landet sitt literally means the country her‑own → her own country.
Because the possessed noun is definite (the country), the possessive comes after the noun: landet sitt, not sitt land in this context.

Why is there no article before Norge? Why not til det Norge or til Norge(t)?

Most country names in Norwegian are used without an article:

i Norge – in Norway
til Norge – to Norway
fra Norge – from Norway

You normally do not say det Norge or put a definite ending on country names. There are a few fixed expressions with an article (for example det moderne Norge – modern Norway), but the plain country name Norge takes no article.

So til Norge is simply to Norway, and that is the standard, correct form.