Jeg sendte dokumentet til printeren, men hun måtte bruke kopimaskinen for å få en ekstra kopi.

They are both past tense forms.

• å sende → sendte = sent
• å måtte → måtte = had to

So:

• Jeg sendte dokumentet = I sent the document
• hun måtte bruke kopimaskinen = she had to use the copier

A useful thing to notice is that måtte is the past tense of må (must / have to).

In Norwegian, the definite article is often attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like the in English.

Here’s what is happening:

• et dokument = a document

• dokumentet = the document

• en printer = a printer

• printeren = the printer

• en kopimaskin = a copier / copy machine
• kopimaskinen = the copier

This is one of the biggest differences from English. Instead of saying a separate word for the, Norwegian usually adds -en, -et, or another definite ending to the noun.

Because Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender, and the definite ending depends on the gender.

In this sentence:

• dokument is neuter → et dokument → dokumentet
• printer is common gender → en printer → printeren
• kopimaskin is also common gender → en kopimaskin → kopimaskinen

So the main pattern is:

• en noun → -en in the definite singular
• et noun → -et in the definite singular

til often means to.

In this sentence, sende noe til noe/noen means send something to something/someone.

So:

• Jeg sendte dokumentet til printeren = I sent the document to the printer

Even though a printer is a machine, Norwegian still commonly uses til here, just like English says to the printer.

Because måtte is a modal verb, and modal verbs are followed by the infinitive without å.

Examples:

• hun måtte bruke = she had to use
• jeg kan komme = I can come
• vi vil dra = we want to leave

So after modal verbs like kan, må, måtte, skal, vil, you normally do not use å before the next verb.

Here, måtte means had to.

So:

• hun måtte bruke kopimaskinen = she had to use the copier

This is important because English speakers sometimes wonder if måtte is related to might or something uncertain. In this sentence, it is not uncertain at all. It expresses necessity in the past.

Compare:

• hun må bruke kopimaskinen = she has to / must use the copier
• hun måtte bruke kopimaskinen = she had to use the copier

for å means to or in order to, and it introduces a purpose.

So:

• for å få en ekstra kopi = to get an extra copy / in order to get an extra copy

Breaking it down:

• for å = to / in order to
• få = get

This is a very common pattern in Norwegian:

• Jeg studerer for å lære. = I study to learn.
• Hun dro dit for å hjelpe. = She went there to help.

Because it means an extra copy, not the extra copy.

• en kopi = a copy
• kopien = the copy

Here, the speaker is talking about one additional copy, not a specific already-identified copy. So the indefinite form is natural:

• en ekstra kopi = an extra copy

Also notice the word order:

• en ekstra kopi = article + adjective + noun

That is the normal pattern in Norwegian.

Because Norwegian adjectives usually come before the noun, just like in English.

So:

• en ekstra kopi = an extra copy
• et stort hus = a big house
• en ny bil = a new car

That part is quite familiar for English speakers. The main difference is usually the noun gender and article system, not the adjective position in a simple phrase like this one.

Because men is a coordinating conjunction, like but in English. It joins two main clauses, and the second clause keeps normal main-clause word order:

• men hun måtte bruke kopimaskinen

That means:

1. subject: hun
2. verb: måtte

Norwegian does often use verb-second word order, but here the clause starts with the subject, so the order is just subject + verb.

Compare:

• Hun måtte bruke kopimaskinen.
• Derfor måtte hun bruke kopimaskinen.

In the second example, derfor comes first, so the verb comes before the subject. But after men, if the subject comes first, there is no extra inversion.

printeren is very common and widely understood. It is a borrowed word from English and is used a lot in everyday Norwegian.

You may also hear:

• skriveren = the printer

In many contexts, skriver is the more traditionally Norwegian word, but printer is extremely common in modern usage. So til printeren sounds perfectly natural.

kopimaskinen means the copy machine or the copier.

It comes from:

• en kopi = a copy
• en maskin = a machine

Together:

• en kopimaskin = a copy machine
• kopimaskinen = the copy machine

In this sentence, it clearly refers to a machine used to make a paper copy.

In this sentence, yes, it most naturally means a physical copy, because the person uses kopimaskinen to get it.

• en kopi can mean a copy in a general sense
• with kopimaskinen, it strongly suggests a paper photocopy

So the context tells you that this is not just any kind of copy, but specifically a copy made with a copier.