Nesen er kald.

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun.

So:

• en nese = a nose
• nesen = the nose

That means -en is doing the job that the does in English.

Nese is the basic dictionary form, meaning nose.

In this sentence, the noun is definite, so it becomes nesen. Norwegian often uses the definite form with body parts, especially when the body part is understood from context.

So Norwegian may say:

• Nesen er kald.

Where English often prefers something like:

• My nose is cold
• His nose is cold

depending on the situation.

Er is the present tense of å være, which means to be.

So:

• jeg er = I am
• du er = you are
• han/hun er = he/she is
• nesen er = the nose is

Unlike English, Norwegian does not change the present-tense verb form depending on the subject. Er stays the same.

This is because adjectives in Norwegian often agree with the noun.

Here, nesen is singular and not neuter, so the adjective takes the basic form:

• kald

Compare:

• Nesen er kald.
• Huset er kaldt.
• Hendene er kalde.

A useful pattern is:

• common gender singular: kald
• neuter singular: kaldt
• plural: kalde

Also, even though nesen is definite, predicate adjectives after er usually do not switch to the definite/plural-looking form because of definiteness alone. So Nesen er kald is correct, not Nesen er kalde.

Nese is a feminine noun in Bokmål, but Bokmål often allows both feminine and common-gender-style forms.

So you may see:

• ei nese – nesa
• en nese – nesen

That means both of these can be correct in Bokmål:

• Nesa er kald.
• Nesen er kald.

Which one is used depends on writing style, dialect, and personal preference.

Yes, in the right context it can.

With body parts, Norwegian often uses the definite noun where English would use a possessive. So Nesen er kald may be understood as the nose is cold, my nose is cold, or his/her nose is cold, depending on context.

If you want to be explicit, you can say:

• Nesen min er kald. = My nose is cold

A rough English-friendly guide is:

• Nesen ≈ NAY-sen
• er ≈ a short air or unstressed ehr
• kald ≈ kahl

A few notes:

• The first syllable of nesen is stressed.
• The vowel in ne- is long.
• In many pronunciations, the d in kald is weak or not clearly pronounced.

So the whole sentence sounds roughly like:

NAY-sen er kahl

To make it a question, Norwegian usually puts the verb first:

• Er nesen kald? = Is the nose cold?

To make it negative, add ikke after the verb:

• Nesen er ikke kald. = The nose is not cold.

This is a very common pattern in Norwegian:

• statement: Nesen er kald.
• question: Er nesen kald?
• negative: Nesen er ikke kald.

This is the normal word order for a simple statement:

• subject + verb + adjective

So:

• Nesen = subject
• er = verb
• kald = adjective

Norwegian main clauses usually follow the verb-second rule, and this sentence fits that pattern perfectly because the subject comes first and the verb comes second.

If you move something else to the front, the verb still stays in second position:

• I dag er nesen kald. = Today the nose is cold.

That verb-second pattern is a very important part of Norwegian sentence structure.