Ved skranken fikk hun brukt hentekoden og vist fram lånekortet fordi hun skulle hente både bok og pakke.

Because Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb must come in the second position.

Here, Ved skranken is placed first for emphasis or setting, so the finite verb fikk has to come next, and the subject hun comes after it.

• Hun fikk brukt hentekoden ved skranken.
• Ved skranken fikk hun brukt hentekoden.

Both are correct, but when Ved skranken comes first, inversion happens: fikk hun.

Ved skranken means at the counter or at the desk.

• ved = at, by
• skranken = the counter, the service desk

So this phrase sets the location of the action. It is a very natural way to talk about interacting with staff at a library, post office, reception desk, and so on.

This is a common Norwegian pattern: få + past participle.

Here, fikk goes with two coordinated participles:

• fikk ... brukt hentekoden
• fikk ... vist fram lånekortet

The second fikk is not repeated because it is understood from the first part.

This construction often suggests that someone managed to do something, got the chance to do it, or succeeded in doing it. It often feels a little more result-focused than a simple past tense verb.

So the sentence is not just listing actions mechanically; it presents them as actions that were actually carried out in that situation.

Because after få in this kind of construction, Norwegian often uses the past participle.

Compare:

• Hun fikk bruke hentekoden.
  = She was allowed to use the pickup code / got to use it.

• Hun fikk brukt hentekoden.
  = She managed to use the pickup code / ended up using it successfully.

And similarly:

• Hun fikk vise fram lånekortet.
• Hun fikk vist fram lånekortet.

The version with the participle often gives more of a completed-action feeling.

Vise fram means to show, to present, or to display.

In this sentence, vist fram lånekortet means that she showed her library card to the staff.

Yes, fram and frem are basically the same word here. Both are accepted in Bokmål, and the difference is mostly stylistic or regional.

• vise fram
• vise frem

Both mean the same thing.

Because hentekoden and lånekortet refer to specific, identifiable things in the situation:

• hentekoden = the pickup code
• lånekortet = the library card

These are not just any code or any card; they are the relevant ones for this person and this interaction.

By contrast, bok and pakke are used more generically here. Norwegian sometimes allows bare singular nouns, especially in compact expressions and after både ... og ..., where the focus is on the categories or items involved rather than on spelling out the article.

So:

• både bok og pakke = both book and package

Other possibilities are also possible, depending on nuance:

• både en bok og en pakke = both a book and a package
• både boka og pakken = both the book and the package

Those versions are more explicit.

Here skulle hente means something like was going to pick up, was supposed to pick up, or was there to pick up.

In past contexts, skulle often expresses:

• plan
• intention
• purpose
• what someone was supposed to do

So fordi hun skulle hente både bok og pakke gives the reason for the earlier actions: she used the code and showed the library card because she was there in order to collect both items.

It is different from ville hente, which would focus more on wanting to pick them up.

Både ... og ... means both ... and ....

It is used to link two parallel elements. In this sentence, it links two nouns:

• både bok og pakke

It can also link other kinds of elements:

• både kaffe og te
• både liten og rask
• hun både leste og skrev

If you include articles, each noun normally gets its own:

• både en bok og en pakke
• både boka og pakken

Because Norwegian normally writes compound nouns as one word.

So:

• hentekode = pickup code
• lånekort = library card / borrowing card

Then the definite ending is added to the whole compound:

• hentekoden
• lånekortet

This is very important in Norwegian spelling. Writing them as two words would usually be wrong or could change the meaning.

For example:

• lånekortet = the library card
• låne kortet = borrow the card

So one-word compounds are a key feature of Norwegian.

Yes. A simpler version could be:

Ved skranken brukte hun hentekoden og viste fram lånekortet fordi hun skulle hente både bok og pakke.

That would also be correct.

The original version with fikk brukt and vist fram is a bit more idiomatic in the sense that it highlights that these actions were successfully carried out in that situation. The simple past version is more straightforward and neutral.

So the difference is not that one is right and the other is wrong. It is more about nuance and style.