Når hun kommer hjem, forteller hun familien at arbeidsgiveren virker rettferdig, og at arbeidskontrakten var lettere å forstå enn hun trodde.

This is a time clause meaning when she comes home or when she gets home.

In Norwegian, a clause beginning with når often sets the time for what happens in the main clause. It works much like English when.

Here:

• Når = when
• hun = she
• kommer hjem = comes home / gets home

So the first part tells us when the rest happens.

This is because of the V2 rule in Norwegian.

In a main clause, the finite verb usually comes in the second position. When the sentence starts with something other than the subject—here, the whole time clause Når hun kommer hjem—the verb comes before the subject in the main clause.

So:

• normal order: Hun forteller familien ...
• after a fronted clause: Når hun kommer hjem, forteller hun familien ...

This inversion is very common in Norwegian.

Hjem means home in the sense of direction or destination.

Norwegian often uses hjem without a preposition where English uses home or to home-type wording. English says come home, not come to home, and Norwegian works similarly:

• komme hjem = come home
• dra hjem = go home

So there is no need for a separate word meaning to here.

Forteller usually means tells or relates, while sier means says.

In this sentence, forteller hun familien suggests that she is telling her family something. That fits well because there is a recipient:

• fortelle noen noe = tell someone something

So:

• Hun forteller familien ... = She tells her family ...
• Hun sier at ... = She says that ...

Both can sometimes be possible, but forteller emphasizes the act of telling the family the information.

Familien means the family or, in context, her family.

Norwegian often uses the definite form when possession is obvious from context. Since the subject is hun, it is natural to understand familien as her family.

So:

• familien = the family / her family, depending on context

If you wanted to be more explicit, you could say familien sin in some dialectal or colloquial styles, or sin familie in certain constructions, but here familien is the most natural choice.

Both at words introduce content clauses, like English that.

The sentence says she tells her family:

1. at arbeidsgiveren virker rettferdig
2. og at arbeidskontrakten var lettere å forstå enn hun trodde

So the structure is:

• she tells them that X
• and that Y

In Norwegian, repeating at in this kind of coordination is very normal and often clearer. The second at could sometimes be omitted, but keeping it sounds neat and natural.

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

So:

• arbeidsgiver = employer
• arbeidsgiveren = the employer

And:

• arbeidskontrakt = employment contract
• arbeidskontrakten = the employment contract

These are also compound nouns:

• arbeids- = work / employment
• giver = giver, in this compound meaning employer
• kontrakt = contract

Compound nouns are extremely common in Norwegian.

Virker rettferdig means seems fair or appears fair, while er rettferdig means is fair.

That is an important difference:

• arbeidsgiveren er rettferdig = the employer is fair
• arbeidsgiveren virker rettferdig = the employer seems fair

Using virker makes the statement a little less absolute. It suggests this is her impression.

Here rettferdig is used after the verb virker, so it functions as a predicate adjective, similar to English fair in seems fair.

In Norwegian, predicate adjectives do sometimes change form depending on gender and number, but many adjectives already have a form that looks the same in this position, and rettferdig is perfectly normal here.

So:

• arbeidsgiveren virker rettferdig = the employer seems fair

You do not need any extra ending here.

Var lettere å forstå means was easier to understand.

Breakdown:

• var = was
• lettere = easier
• å forstå = to understand

So the pattern is:

• [something] + var + lettere + å + infinitive
• the contract was easier to understand

This is very similar to English:

• The contract was easier to understand than she thought

Also, lettere is the comparative form of lett:

• lett = easy
• lettere = easier

This can feel a little surprising, but it is possible because the sentence reports what she tells them, and one of the things she tells them concerns a past assessment.

The structure is:

• forteller = she tells
• one message: arbeidsgiveren virker rettferdig = the employer seems fair
• another message: arbeidskontrakten var lettere å forstå enn hun trodde = the contract was easier to understand than she thought

The past var suggests that the act of trying to understand the contract is being viewed as something already experienced. In other words, she has already read it and found that it turned out to be easier than expected.

If you changed it to er lettere, that would shift the meaning slightly toward a present general state:

• arbeidskontrakten er lettere å forstå enn hun trodde

Both can make sense in some contexts, but var frames it more as a completed realization.

It means than she thought.

This is a comparative structure:

• lettere ... enn ... = easier ... than ...

So:

• lettere å forstå enn hun trodde = easier to understand than she thought

There is an implied idea after trodde, something like:

• easier to understand than she thought it would be
• easier to understand than she thought it was going to be

Norwegian often leaves that extra part unstated when it is obvious.

Sometimes, yes—but less freely than in English.

In English, you can often say:

• She tells her family the employer seems fair

In Norwegian, you will very often keep at:

• Hun forteller familien at arbeidsgiveren virker rettferdig

Omitting at is possible in some contexts, especially in speech, but for learners it is usually best to include it. In this sentence, using at is the clearest and most standard choice.

Not exactly.

Both can relate to when, but they are used differently:

• når is commonly used for repeated events, general situations, and often future-oriented situations
• da is usually used for a specific event in the past

In this sentence, Når hun kommer hjem fits because it means something like when she gets home. It sounds like a time condition for what happens next, not a single completed past event.

So når is the natural choice here.