Byggetillatelsen kan godkjennes i og med at byggesøknaden er signert.

Because Norwegian usually marks definiteness with a suffix on the noun itself.

• en byggetillatelse = a building permit
• byggetillatelsen = the building permit

So -en is the definite article here. A separate word like den is usually added when there is an adjective:

• byggetillatelsen = the building permit
• den nye byggetillatelsen = the new building permit

Because Norwegian normally writes compound nouns as one word.

So:

• byggetillatelse = bygge
  • tillatelse
• byggesøknad = bygge
  • søknad

This is very common in Norwegian. Where English often uses two words, Norwegian often uses one compound word.

Here bygge- means something like building / construction-related.

It comes from the verb å bygge = to build. In compounds, this first part often works like a descriptive element:

• byggetillatelse = a permit connected with building
• byggesøknad = an application connected with building

So bygge- is not really a separate prefix in the strict sense; it is the first part of a compound noun.

This is because of the Norwegian V2 rule: in a main clause, the finite verb usually comes in second position.

Here:

1. Byggetillatelsen = first element
2. kan = finite verb in second position

Then the rest follows: godkjennes i og med at byggesøknaden er signert.

This is one of the most important word-order patterns in Norwegian.

Kan is a modal verb meaning can / may, and godkjennes is a passive form of godkjenne = to approve.

So:

• godkjenne = approve
• godkjennes = be approved
• kan godkjennes = can be approved

This is a very common way to express passive meaning in Norwegian.

It is the -s passive.

Norwegian has a few ways to express passive, and one of them is adding -s to the verb form:

• godkjenne = approve
• godkjennes = be approved

This -s passive is especially common in formal, written, and administrative language, so it fits well in a sentence about permits and applications.

Yes. In many situations, kan bli godkjent and kan godkjennes mean almost the same thing.

• kan godkjennes = a bit more compact and formal
• kan bli godkjent = often a bit more natural in everyday speech

In an official or bureaucratic context, kan godkjennes sounds very normal.

Here i og med at means something like:

• since
• because
• given that
• seeing that

It introduces the reason for the approval. In this sentence, it means that the permit can be approved because / since the application has been signed.

It does not need to be understood word by word. As a whole, it functions like a conjunction introducing a reason.

Yes, in this sentence you usually can.

• Byggetillatelsen kan godkjennes fordi byggesøknaden er signert.

That would sound natural too.

The difference is mostly one of tone:

• fordi = plain, direct because
• i og med at = often slightly more formal, explanatory, or administrative, sometimes closer to since / given that

Er signert focuses on the present result or state: the application is signed.

In practice, this often corresponds to English has been signed, especially when the important point is that the signing is already completed.

Compare:

• er signert = the application is in a signed state
• har blitt signert = the signing event has happened

In official-style Norwegian, er signert is very common when the result matters more than the process.

Because Norwegian often leaves out the agent when it is unknown, obvious, or unimportant.

The sentence only tells us that the application is signed. It does not say who signed it, because that is not the main point here.

If you wanted to add the agent, you could say something like:

• Byggesøknaden er signert av søkeren.
• Byggesøknaden er signert av ansvarlig søker.

Because the sentence is talking about specific, identifiable things:

• the building permit
• the building application

This suggests that both are already known from the context, for example in a specific case or official process.

If you used indefinite forms, the meaning would become more general:

• En byggetillatelse kan godkjennes ...
• En byggesøknad er signert ...

That would sound less like a specific real-world case and more like a general statement.

Because at introduces a subordinate clause, and subordinate clauses do not follow the same V2 pattern as main clauses.

In the subordinate clause:

• byggesøknaden = subject
• er = finite verb

So the order is straightforward subject + verb:

• at byggesøknaden er signert

That is why you do not get something like at er byggesøknaden signert.

Then you would get:

• I og med at byggesøknaden er signert, kan byggetillatelsen godkjennes.

This is a useful example of Norwegian word order:

• first comes the subordinate clause
• then in the main clause the finite verb still comes before the subject: kan byggetillatelsen

That happens because the whole fronted clause counts as the first element, so the main-clause verb must still come in second position.