Ballen er blå.

to be

Breakdown of Ballen er blå.

• blå: blue
• ballen: the ball

Questions & Answers about Ballen er blå.

Why is it ballen and not just ball?

Ballen is the definite form of ball, meaning the ball.

In Norwegian, instead of usually putting a separate word for the in front of the noun, you often add the definiteness to the end of the noun:

• en ball = a ball
• ballen = the ball

So Ballen er blå means The ball is blue.

What does -en mean in ballen?

The ending -en marks the noun as definite singular for many masculine nouns.

Here, ball is a masculine noun, so:

• en ball = a ball
• ballen = the ball

This is a very common pattern in Norwegian.

Why is there no separate word for the?