"Han kommer inn i huset" and "Han sitter inne i huset". I initially found that a puzzling construction, and have never had an explanation of the reason why (to an English speaker) there seems to be a redundant preposition,
He acknowledges the “extra” preposition seems redundant, and it could be omitted, but it just doesn’t sound or feel right to him.
If anything is redundant in Norwegian, it's not the preposition "
i". You can't omit the "
i" in any of these expressions. I am no grammar expert, but aren't "
inne" and "
inn" adverbs?
Anyway, you need both "
inn" and "
i" in "
Han kommer inn i huset" - and likewise both words in "
Han kommer ut i hagen", "
Han kommer ned i kjelleren". It may be helpful to regard "
inn i" (or "
ut i" etc.) as the Norwegian equivalent to "into" - Norwegian uses two words where English has one.
"
Han sitter inne i huset" seems different, since it is possible to omit "
inne". But let's first consider "
Han sitter ute i hagen". If the speaker is
inside the house, he/she could say either "
Han sitter i hagen" or "
Han sitter ute i hagen" - but "
ute" seems a bit more natural, and emphasizes the difference between the speaker on the inside and the other person on the outside.
If the speaker is
outside, but not in the garden, there is no need for "
ute". You could still say "
Han sitter ute i hagen", to emphasize the "
ute" part, for example if this is unusual and he usually is inside. If the speaker is out on the street, it might actually be possible to say "
Han sitter inne i hagen", if the garden is perceived as "inside" relative to the speaker's position (for example on the inside of a garden wall or hedge).
Likewise, "
Han sitter inne i huset" implies that the speaker is on the outside. It is more difficult to think of a context where "
Han sitter i huset" would be the natural choice.
Seems to me that the pair 'her/hit' breaks the rule to some extent, because you can of course say 'hun kommer her', whereas the other pairs mentioned stick to the rule
Yes, but as AutumnOwl wrote in post #3 ten years ago, the meaning is not quite the same. "
Hun kommer hit" means that she comes towards the location of the speaker. "
Hun kommer her" has a broader meaning. If you watch cross-country skiing on TV, and Therese Johaug appears on your TV screen, coming out of the wood and into the ski stadium, you could say "
Hun kommer her" or "
Her kommer hun", but not "
Hun kommer hit" (unless you expect Johaug to visit you in your own home).
Likewise, you can say "
Her kommer sola" (Here comes the sun), without implying that the sun is moving towards you.