Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Hun klarer å håndtere situasjonen bedre når hun gir samtykke til at legen kan snakke med saksbehandleren. - She manages to handle the situation better when she gives consent for the doctor to talk to the caseworker.

Main clause: Hun klarer å håndtere situasjonen bedre
Time clause: når hun gir samtykke ... You normally keep hun in the subordinate clause; leaving it out would sound ungrammatical.

What does klarer å mean grammatically, and why is å there?

klarer is the present tense of å klare (to manage / to succeed). When klare is followed by another verb, Norwegian typically uses å + infinitive:

å klare å håndtere = to manage to handle So å here is the infinitive marker (similar to English to).

Why isn’t there å in legen kan snakke?

Because kan is a modal verb (like can/may). After modal verbs, Norwegian uses the bare infinitive (no å):

legen kan snakke (not legen kan å snakke)

How does word order work in the part til at legen kan snakke med saksbehandleren?

at introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses normally keep the order subject + verb:

legen kan snakke (subject legen before verb kan)

If it were a main clause starting with something else, you’d often see inversion (verb before subject), but at blocks that.

Why does it say samtykke til at ... and not just samtykke at ...?

Because samtykke (consent) is typically followed by the preposition til:

å gi samtykke til noe = to give consent to something
And when what follows is a clause, you get:
samtykke til at + clause = consent to the fact that / consent for X to happen

Could you also say gi tillatelse instead of gi samtykke?

Often yes, but there’s a nuance:

samtykke is common in formal/legal/medical contexts and focuses on the person’s informed consent.
tillatelse is more general “permission.” In healthcare/legal phrasing, samtykke is usually the idiomatic choice.

Why are situasjonen, legen, and saksbehandleren in the definite form?

Norwegian often uses the definite form when the listener can identify which one is meant (contextually “the” situation/doctor/caseworker):

situasjonen = the situation
legen = the doctor
saksbehandleren = the caseworker / case officer If they were not specific/known, you’d more likely see indefinite forms like en situasjon, en lege, en saksbehandler.

What exactly is a saksbehandler?

A saksbehandler is a caseworker/case officer—someone who processes and manages cases in an office/agency (often welfare, insurance, immigration, healthcare administration, municipality services, etc.). The definite saksbehandleren means a specific one.

Why is bedre placed where it is?

bedre is the comparative of godt (well) / bra (good). It modifies håndtere (“handle better”), and it commonly comes after the object:

håndtere situasjonen bedre = handle the situation better
You can sometimes move adverbs, but this placement is very natural.

If the sentence started with Når hun ..., would the word order change?

Yes. If you start with the subordinate clause, the main clause gets inversion (verb second rule):

Når hun gir samtykke til at legen kan snakke med saksbehandleren, klarer hun å håndtere situasjonen bedre. Notice klarer hun (verb before subject) in the main clause.

Any pronunciation/spelling pitfalls in this sentence?

Common ones:

å is a separate letter (not just “a”): å håndtere, å klare
håndtere: the å is like the vowel in “law” for many speakers; the ndt cluster is pronounced smoothly (often close to “håntere” in fast speech, depending on dialect).
samtykke: stress usually on the first syllable (SAM-).
saksbehandleren is long; it’s a compound: sak + behandler + en (case + handler + the).