Breakdown of Strømleverandøren sendte et brev.
et
a
sende
to send
brevet
the letter
strømleverandøren
the electricity supplier
Questions & Answers about Strømleverandøren sendte et brev.
Why is strømleverandøren written as one long word?
Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as one word.
Here, strømleverandøren is made up of:
- strøm = electricity / power
- leverandør = supplier
- -en = the definite ending
So the full word means the electricity supplier.
This is very common in Norwegian. Where English often uses two words, Norwegian often makes one compound word:
- bokhandel = bookshop
- sommerferie = summer holiday
- strømregning = electricity bill
The last part usually decides the grammatical gender and how the word is inflected.
Why does strømleverandøren end in -en?
The ending -en is the definite article suffix for many singular nouns in Norwegian.
So:
- en leverandør = a supplier
- leverandøren = the supplier
And with the full compound:
- en strømleverandør = an electricity supplier
- strømleverandøren = the electricity supplier
Unlike English, Norwegian often puts the at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word before it.
Why isn’t there a separate word for the before strømleverandøren?