Stillingsprosenten hennes er lavere enn før, men hun synes livet er bedre nå.

Stillingsprosenten literally means the position percentage or the employment percentage.

In Norwegian, this is a very common way to talk about how much of a full-time job someone has:

• 100 % stilling = a full-time job
• 80 % stilling = an 80% position
• 50 % stilling = a half-time job

So stillingsprosenten hennes er lavere enn før means that she now works a smaller percentage than she used to.

Both are possible, but they are used a little differently.

• stillingsprosenten hennes = the most neutral and common way in everyday Norwegian
• hennes stillingsprosent = more formal, more emphatic, or more literary

Norwegian often puts the possessive after the noun, and then the noun usually takes the definite ending:

• boka mi = my book
• huset vårt = our house
• stillingsprosenten hennes = her employment percentage

So this sentence uses the most natural everyday pattern.

Because the noun is in the definite singular form.

• en stillingsprosent = an employment percentage
• stillingsprosenten = the employment percentage

When a possessive comes after the noun, Norwegian usually uses the definite form:

• bilen hans = his car
• jobben min = my job
• stillingsprosenten hennes = her employment percentage

So the -en ending is not random; it shows the.

Lavere is the comparative form of lav (low), so it means lower.

• lav = low
• lavere = lower

enn means than, so:

• lavere enn før = lower than before

This is the normal pattern for comparisons in Norwegian:

• større enn = bigger than
• mindre enn = smaller than
• bedre enn = better than

Here før means before or earlier.

In this sentence, enn før means than before.

Examples:

• Jeg er trøttere enn før. = I am more tired than before.
• Det er bedre nå enn før. = It is better now than before.

So før does not necessarily mean a specific time; it just refers to an earlier situation.

Because the sentence is making a comparison.

• lav = low
• lavere = lower

And:

• bra / god = good
• bedre = better

So:

• er lavere enn før = is lower than before
• er bedre nå = is better now

In other words, the sentence is not just describing something; it is comparing now with before.

Yes, here synes means something like thinks, feels, or finds.

The verb is å synes, and it is often used for personal opinions or impressions:

• Jeg synes det er fint. = I think it is nice.
• Hun synes livet er bedre nå. = She thinks / feels that life is better now.

This is often more natural than tenker in this kind of sentence.

A rough difference is:

• synes = to have an opinion / feel that
• tenker = to think, to be thinking
• tror = to believe

So hun synes livet er bedre nå is about her personal view of her life.

Because Norwegian often uses the definite form where English uses a noun without the.

• livet = the life / life
• Hun synes livet er bedre nå. = She thinks life is better now.

In English, we normally say life is better now, without the. But in Norwegian, livet is very natural in this kind of general statement.

This also happens in other cases:

• Kjærligheten er viktig. = Love is important.
• Naturen er vakker. = Nature is beautiful.

So livet is the normal Norwegian way to express this idea.

Because men is a coordinating conjunction, like but in English.

After men, Norwegian normally keeps regular main-clause word order:

• ..., men hun synes livet er bedre nå.

That means:

• hun = subject
• synes = verb

You do not invert the order just because of men.

Compare:

• Hun jobber mindre, men hun er glad.
• Det er vanskelig, men jeg prøver.

Inversion usually happens when another element comes first in the clause, such as nå, i dag, derfor, etc. But after men, standard subject-verb order is normal.

Nå means now, and placing it at the end is very natural in Norwegian.

• hun synes livet er bedre nå = she thinks life is better now

Norwegian is often flexible with adverbs, but the end position works very well here because it highlights the contrast with før earlier in the sentence:

• lavere enn før = lower than before
• bedre nå = better now

So the sentence neatly contrasts before and now.

Yes.

After synes, Norwegian often omits at (that) when introducing a subordinate clause.

So both are possible:

• Hun synes livet er bedre nå.
• Hun synes at livet er bedre nå.

Both mean the same thing. The version without at is very common and natural.

Yes. Bedre is the comparative form used for both bra (good / well) and god (good), depending on context.

Examples:

• Dette er bra. → Dette er bedre.
• Maten er god. → Maten er bedre.

In livet er bedre nå, bedre simply means better, and it works naturally regardless of the fact that liv is a neuter noun.

Most likely it is talking about fewer work hours or a smaller job fraction.

Because stillingsprosent is a specifically Norwegian work-life term, it usually refers to how large someone’s job is as a percentage of a full-time position.

So if her stillingsprosent is lower than before, it usually means something like:

• she works fewer hours
• she has a smaller contract percentage
• she may have gone from full-time to part-time

The second half, men hun synes livet er bedre nå, suggests that even though she works less, she feels her overall life has improved.