Konkurransegrunnlaget er tydelig.

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

Here, konkurransegrunnlaget is built from:

• konkurranse = competition / tender
• grunnlag = basis / foundation / document basis

So the base noun is konkurransegrunnlag, and then it gets a definite ending.

A useful rule: in Norwegian compounds, the last part decides the gender and inflection. Since grunnlag is a neuter noun, the whole compound is neuter too.

The ending -et marks the noun as definite singular neuter.

The pattern is:

• et konkurransegrunnlag = an/the competition basis, a tender document basis
• konkurransegrunnlaget = the competition basis / the tender document basis

So -et here is basically doing the job that the does in English.

In Norwegian, definiteness is often attached directly to the noun instead of being a separate word.

So:

• English: the document
• Norwegian: dokumentet

That is why you get konkurransegrunnlaget rather than a separate word meaning the.

However, if an adjective comes before a definite noun, Norwegian usually uses double definiteness:

• det tydelige konkurransegrunnlaget = the clear tender document basis

But in your sentence, the adjective comes after er, so you do not add det.

Because tydelig is the correct predicative form here.

After er, Norwegian adjectives often agree with the noun:

• en bil er stor
• et hus er stort
• flere hus er store

But adjectives ending in -ig usually do not add -t in the neuter singular in Bokmål.

So you get:

• en tydelig tekst
• et tydelig signal
• signalet er tydelig

And in the plural:

• signalene er tydelige

So tydelig is exactly what you should expect with a singular noun here.

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

So the structure is:

• Konkurransegrunnlaget = subject
• er = is
• tydelig = clear

This is a very common sentence pattern in Norwegian:

• subject + er
  • adjective

Just like in English:

• The document is clear.

Because this sentence uses predicative adjective structure: the adjective comes after er.

So:

• Konkurransegrunnlaget er tydelig = The tender document basis is clear.

If you put the adjective before the noun, it becomes attributive instead:

• det tydelige konkurransegrunnlaget

That is still valid, but it is a different structure. English allows both too:

• The document is clear
• The clear document

Norwegian does the same, but the grammar changes more visibly when the adjective comes before a definite noun.

This sentence has normal main-clause word order:

• subject + verb + complement

So:

• Konkurransegrunnlaget
  • er
    • tydelig

If you turn it into a yes/no question, the verb comes first:

• Er konkurransegrunnlaget tydelig?

And if you start with another element, Norwegian still keeps the verb in second position:

• I denne saken er konkurransegrunnlaget tydelig.

That verb-second rule is very important in Norwegian.

Here is a useful mini-pattern:

Noun

• indefinite singular: et konkurransegrunnlag
• definite singular: konkurransegrunnlaget
• indefinite plural: konkurransegrunnlag
• definite plural: konkurransegrunnlagene

Adjective

• singular: tydelig
• plural: tydelige

So for example:

• Konkurransegrunnlaget er tydelig.
• Konkurransegrunnlagene er tydelige.

That gives you a good model for how the sentence changes with number and definiteness.