Baugen er høy.

to be

Breakdown of Baugen er høy.

• høy: high
• baugen: the bow of the ship

Questions & Answers about Baugen er høy.

Why does baugen end in -en?

The ending -en is the definite article attached to the noun. So baug means bow (or whatever meaning you were shown), and baugen means the bow.

This is very common in Norwegian:

• en baug = a bow
• baugen = the bow

Unlike English, Norwegian often puts the at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word before it.

Why is there no separate word for the?

Because Norwegian usually expresses definiteness by adding an ending to the noun.

So English:

• the bow

Norwegian:

• baugen

You do sometimes see a separate determiner together with a definite noun, but that happens in other structures, such as:

• den høye baugen = the high bow

In your sentence, baugen er høy, the noun just uses its normal definite form by itself.

Why is it er?

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
• baugen er = the bow is

Norwegian does not change the present-tense form for different subjects the way English does. It is always er in the present.