De kommer visst senere.

Because Norwegian very often uses the present tense for future events, especially when the future action is seen as expected, planned, or fairly certain.

So De kommer senere is completely natural for something that will happen later.

This is similar to English sentences like:

• They’re coming later
• I leave tomorrow

Norwegian can also use other future expressions, but the plain present tense is extremely common.

In this sentence, visst is a modal/sentence adverb that gives the idea of:

• apparently
• it seems
• I hear
• supposedly

It often suggests that the speaker is not stating the information as a firm personal fact, but as something they have heard, inferred, or believe to be the case.

So visst adds a nuance like: the speaker thinks this is true, but the information may come from someone else or from indirect knowledge.

This is because of normal main clause word order in Norwegian.

In a Norwegian main clause, the finite verb usually comes in second position. After that, sentence adverbs like visst, ikke, ofte, and similar words often come.

So the pattern is:

• De = subject
• kommer = finite verb
• visst = sentence adverb
• senere = time adverb

This follows the usual Norwegian V2 pattern (verb-second).

Usually, not in normal neutral word order.

De kommer visst senere sounds natural.

If you move visst, the sentence may sound odd, marked, or change emphasis. For example, placing it at the very end is generally not the normal choice here.

For learners, the safest pattern is:

subject + finite verb + sentence adverb + other information

So here:

De + kommer + visst + senere

It could, in theory, be ambiguous in writing because:

• de = they
• De = old-fashioned or very formal you

But in modern Norwegian, the formal De is rare and mostly outdated. In a normal modern sentence, this will almost always be understood as they, especially if that is the meaning you were shown.

Also, since this word is at the start of the sentence, it would be capitalized anyway, so context decides the meaning.

In this sentence, kommer can feel like either come or arrive, depending on context.

Norwegian komme often covers both ideas:

• movement toward a place/person
• arriving somewhere

So in a sentence like this, English might choose either word depending on the situation, but Norwegian naturally uses kommer.

Senere is an adverb here, meaning later.

It tells you when something happens.

You can think of it as a time expression, similar to:

• nå = now
• snart = soon
• senere = later

It does not change form here for person or number.

Yes, those are spelling variants in Bokmål.

• senere is very common
• seinere is also correct

Both mean later. Which one you meet depends on style, dialect influence, and personal preference.

In a subordinate clause, Norwegian word order changes. The sentence adverb visst would normally come before the finite verb.

Main clause:

• De kommer visst senere.

Subordinate clause:

• ... at de visst kommer senere.

So this is a useful contrast:

• main clause: verb before sentence adverb
• subordinate clause: sentence adverb before verb

Not exactly.

• kanskje means maybe / perhaps
• visst means something more like apparently / I hear / it seems

So kanskje expresses uncertainty from the speaker. visst often suggests the speaker has some indirect basis for the statement.

Compare the feeling:

• De kommer kanskje senere. = maybe they’ll come later
• De kommer visst senere. = apparently they’re coming later

Those are similar in English, but the nuance is different.

It is usually pronounced roughly like vist, with a short vowel and a clear final consonant cluster.

A few practical points for English speakers:

• the i is short
• the ss shows the vowel is short
• the final t is pronounced

So it is not drawn out like English veest. It is shorter and crisper.

Yes. It is very natural Norwegian.

The sentence uses several everyday features:

• present tense for future meaning
• normal main-clause word order
• a common sentence adverb (visst)
• a simple time adverb (senere)

So even though visst adds a subtle nuance, the overall sentence structure is very typical and useful to learn.