Learn Danish: Hestene er store. - The horses are big.

The base word is hest (horse). First, we make it plural by adding -e to get heste (horses). Then, to say the horses, we add the definite plural suffix -ne from this lesson. Together, that makes hestene.

Does it matter if hest is an en word or an et word when adding the -ne ending?

Not for the plural! While you need to know a noun's gender for the singular "the" (like hesten for "the horse"), the definite plural suffix -ne is used for the vast majority of regular nouns, no matter their gender.

Why is the word for "big" written as store instead of just stor?

In Danish, adjectives (describing words) have to match the number of the noun they are describing. Because hestene (the horses) is plural, we have to add an -e to the end of the singular adjective stor, making it store.

Do I actually pronounce the -e at the end of store?

Yes! Unlike in English where an 'e' at the end of a word is often silent, the -e at the end of Danish plural adjectives like store is always pronounced as a soft, short "uh" sound.