Arbeidsgiveren sier at prøvetiden varer i seks måneder, men arbeidsmiljøet virker allerede godt.

Those endings mark the definite singular form, the equivalent of English the.

• en arbeidsgiver → arbeidsgiveren = the employer
• en prøvetid → prøvetiden = the probation period
• et arbeidsmiljø → arbeidsmiljøet = the work environment

Norwegian usually adds the definite article to the end of the noun instead of putting a separate word in front.

Also note the gender difference:

• -en is common with en-words
• -et is common with et-words

Because Norwegian forms compound nouns very freely, and they are normally written as one word.

• prøvetid = prøve
  • tid
• arbeidsmiljø = arbeid
  • miljø

English often uses two words or a phrase where Norwegian prefers one compound word. This is very common in Norwegian, so learners should get used to spotting compounds.

Vare means to last. That makes it the natural verb when talking about the length of a period of time.

• Prøvetiden varer i seks måneder = the probation period lasts six months

If you used er, it would sound less natural here. Norwegian usually uses vare for the duration of something like a meeting, course, holiday, or probation period.

After vare, duration is very often expressed with i.

So:

• varer i seks måneder = lasts for six months

That is a very natural and standard way to say it. You may sometimes see duration expressed without i in Norwegian, but in this sentence i seks måneder is completely normal and idiomatic.

At introduces a subordinate clause, just like English that.

• Arbeidsgiveren sier at prøvetiden varer i seks måneder
• The employer says that the probation period lasts six months

In spoken Norwegian, at can sometimes be omitted after verbs like si, but keeping it is very common and is the safest choice, especially in writing.

Because men is a coordinating conjunction joining two main clauses. It does not force inversion by itself.

So the second clause keeps normal main-clause order:

• arbeidsmiljøet = subject
• virker = finite verb

That gives:

• men arbeidsmiljøet virker allerede godt

In other words, after men, the new clause starts normally. The word men is not counted as the first element inside the clause for word-order purposes.

No. In this sentence, virker means seems or appears.

The verb virke can have different meanings depending on context:

• Maskinen virker = the machine works
• Arbeidsmiljøet virker godt = the work environment seems good

So yes, virke can mean work/function, but here it is clearly the seem/appear meaning because it is followed by an adjective describing an impression.

Because arbeidsmiljøet is a neuter noun: et arbeidsmiljø.

After linking verbs like være, bli, and virke, the adjective usually agrees with the noun it describes. Since arbeidsmiljøet is neuter singular, the adjective takes the neuter form:

• god → common gender singular
• godt → neuter singular
• gode → plural / some other agreement contexts

So:

• arbeidsmiljøet virker godt

A very important point: here godt is not really the adverb well. It is the neuter form of the adjective god, agreeing with arbeidsmiljøet.

In a main clause, adverbs like allerede often come after the finite verb.

So this is the normal order:

• arbeidsmiljøet virker allerede godt

That placement sounds natural and neutral.

This is useful to compare with subordinate clauses. In a subordinate clause, adverbs usually come before the finite verb:

• ... at arbeidsmiljøet allerede virker godt

So allerede is a good word to notice if you want to learn the difference between main-clause and subordinate-clause word order.

Because men is joining two full clauses, and each clause has its own finite verb:

• Arbeidsgiveren sier ...
• arbeidsmiljøet virker ...

In Norwegian, it is standard to use a comma before men when it connects two independent clauses like this. So the comma here is completely normal.