Jeg har vondt i håndleddet, så sykepleieren setter på et plaster.

Å ha vondt is a very common Norwegian way to talk about pain. Literally, it looks like to have pain / to hurt, and it is often used where English might say my wrist hurts, I’m in pain, or it hurts.

So:

• Jeg har vondt. = I’m in pain / It hurts.
• Jeg har vondt i håndleddet. = My wrist hurts / I have pain in my wrist.

It is a fixed, natural expression, so it is best to learn ha vondt i + body part as a chunk.

Vondt is the neuter form of the adjective vond. In the fixed expression ha vondt, Norwegian uses vondt, not vond.

Compare:

• en vond arm = a painful/sore arm
• et vondt kne = a painful/sore knee
• jeg har vondt = I am hurting / it hurts

So in this sentence, vondt belongs to the idiomatic expression ha vondt.

With ha vondt, Norwegian normally uses i before the place that hurts:

• ha vondt i hodet = have a headache / have pain in the head
• ha vondt i ryggen = have back pain
• ha vondt i håndleddet = have pain in the wrist

So i is the standard preposition in this pattern. Even if English would not always use in, Norwegian usually does here.

Håndledd is the basic dictionary form, meaning wrist.
Håndleddet is the definite singular form, meaning the wrist.

The endings are:

• et håndledd = a wrist
• håndleddet = the wrist

Norwegian very often uses the definite form for body parts in expressions like this.

Norwegian often uses the definite form alone for body parts when it is obvious whose body part is meant.

So:

• Jeg har vondt i håndleddet. literally = I have pain in the wrist
• but naturally understood as My wrist hurts

You can say håndleddet mitt, but it is often unnecessary because the owner is already clear from jeg.

This is very common with body parts:

• Jeg vasket hendene. = I washed my hands
• Han brakk beinet. = He broke his leg

It is a compound noun:

• hånd = hand
• ledd = joint

So håndledd is literally something like hand-joint, which is the Norwegian word for wrist.

Compound nouns are extremely common in Norwegian, so this is a useful pattern to notice.

Here så means so, therefore, or as a result.

The sentence is:

• Jeg har vondt i håndleddet, så sykepleieren setter på et plaster.

That means the second clause follows from the first one: the wrist hurts, so the nurse applies a plaster.

In other contexts, så can also mean then, but here it is clearly the so/therefore meaning.

Sykepleieren is the definite form and means the nurse.

• en sykepleier = a nurse
• sykepleieren = the nurse

The definite form is used because this is a specific nurse in the situation, not just any nurse in general.

Setter på is from the verb phrase å sette på, which here means to put on or to apply.

So:

• sette på et plaster = put on / apply a plaster

This is more than just plain sette. The particle på changes the meaning, so it helps to learn sette på as a unit in this sentence.

In this sentence, på is best understood as part of the verb phrase setter på.

So the structure is:

• sykepleieren = subject
• setter på = verb phrase
• et plaster = object

This kind of verb + particle combination is very common in Norwegian.

Because plaster is a neuter noun.

Its forms are:

• et plaster = a plaster
• plasteret = the plaster

So the article must be et, not en.

In everyday Norwegian, plaster usually means an adhesive bandage — what British English also calls a plaster, and what American English often calls a Band-Aid.

So in this sentence, it does not mean building plaster or wall plaster. It means a small medical bandage put on the skin.

Because så here is a conjunction joining two main clauses, not an adverb that takes first position in the clause.

So the second clause keeps normal main-clause word order:

• sykepleieren setter på et plaster

Subject first, then verb.

If you used a word like derfor at the front, the word order would change:

• Derfor setter sykepleieren på et plaster.

But after conjunction så, you normally get:

• så sykepleieren setter ...