Svartiden er kort.

The response time is short.

Breakdown of Svartiden er kort.

• være: to be
• kort: short
• svartiden: the response time

Questions & Answers about Svartiden er kort.

Why is svartiden written as one word?

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

Here, svartiden is built from:

• svar = answer / reply / response
• tid = time
• -en = the definite ending

So the base noun is svartid = response time, and svartiden = the response time.

This is very normal in Norwegian. Where English often uses two words, Norwegian often uses one:

• response time → svartid
• school bus → skolebuss
• coffee cup → kaffekopp

What does -en mean in svartiden?

-en is the definite article attached to the end of the noun. It means the.

So:

• svartid = response time
• svartiden = the response time

This is one of the big differences from English. In Norwegian, the definite article is usually a suffix instead of a separate word.

Compare:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car

Why is the verb er used here?