Uten stempel og signatur kan de ikke godkjenne dokumentet, selv om fornavnet er riktig skrevet.

Because Norwegian main clauses usually follow the V2 rule: the finite verb comes in the second position.

Here, the sentence starts with the fronted phrase Uten stempel og signatur. Since that phrase takes the first position, the finite verb kan must come next:

Uten stempel og signatur + kan + de + ikke godkjenne dokumentet

If you started with the subject instead, you would get:

De kan ikke godkjenne dokumentet uten stempel og signatur.

That is also correct, but it gives less emphasis to the missing stamp and signature.

Uten means without.

In formal or administrative Norwegian, it is very common to leave out articles in short expressions like this when referring to required items in a general way:

uten stempel og signatur = without stamp and signature

This sounds more compact and official. You could also say uten et stempel og en signatur, but that feels more specific and a little heavier.

So the sentence is talking about the absence of the necessary things, not emphasizing one individual stamp and one individual signature.

Here de means they.

Modern Norwegian normally uses de as the third-person plural pronoun. A formal you written as De does exist historically, but it is now uncommon and would normally be capitalized.

So in this sentence, de is simply they.

Because dokumentet is the definite singular form: the document.

Norwegian usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun:

• et dokument = a document
• dokumentet = the document

The noun dokument is a neuter noun, so the definite ending is -et.

Because it comes after the modal verb kan.

After modal verbs such as kan, skal, må, vil, and bør, the next verb is normally in the infinitive without å:

• kan godkjenne = can approve
• må vente = must wait
• skal skrive = will write

So kan de ikke godkjenne dokumentet means they cannot approve the document.

Godkjenne means approve, authorize, or accept as valid.

In this sentence, it suggests some official or administrative approval. It is stronger and more formal than just like or accept in everyday speech.

So godkjenne dokumentet means something like approve the document or validate the document.

Selv om is a fixed expression meaning although, even though, or sometimes even if, depending on context.

In this sentence, it has a concessive meaning:

selv om fornavnet er riktig skrevet = even though the first name is written correctly

So the idea is: the first name may be correct, but that is still not enough.

Do not translate selv om word for word. Treat it as one unit.

Because selv om introduces a subordinate clause.

In subordinate clauses, Norwegian normally does not use the same inversion pattern as in main clauses. The subject usually comes before the finite verb:

• fornavnet er riktig skrevet

That is different from the main clause, where fronting caused inversion:

• Uten stempel og signatur kan de ikke ...

A useful comparison:

• Main clause: I dag kommer han.
• Subordinate clause: fordi han kommer i dag

Because it refers to a specific first name, the one on the document.

• fornavn = first name
• fornavnet = the first name

In context, both speaker and listener know which first name is being discussed, so the definite form is natural.

Here riktig functions adverbially, meaning correctly.

It modifies skrevet:

riktig skrevet = correctly written

For an English speaker, this can feel strange because English often clearly distinguishes correct and correctly. In Norwegian, the same form can often be used adverbially, and with riktig the form looks the same.

So think of riktig skrevet as written correctly, not the correct written.

Skrevet is the past participle of skrive.

• skrive = to write
• skrev = wrote
• skrevet = written

In this sentence, er skrevet gives a passive/resultative meaning:

fornavnet er riktig skrevet = the first name is written correctly / has been written correctly

So skrevet is not a simple past tense here. It is a participle used with er.

Yes. That version is perfectly grammatical and has the same basic meaning.

The difference is mainly emphasis:

• Uten stempel og signatur kan de ikke godkjenne dokumentet puts the focus on the missing stamp and signature.
• De kan ikke godkjenne dokumentet uten stempel og signatur is a more neutral statement.

Norwegian often moves a phrase to the front when it wants to highlight it.

Usually not. In a sentence like this, stempel most likely means an official stamp, seal, or rubber stamp used on documents.

So stempel og signatur is a very typical official combination: a stamped and signed document.

In other contexts, stempel can also mean other kinds of stamp, but here the administrative meaning is the natural one.