Bølgehøyden er høy.

The wave height is high.

Breakdown of Bølgehøyden er høy.

• være: to be
• høy: high
• bølgehøyden: the wave height

Questions & Answers about Bølgehøyden er høy.

Why is bølgehøyden written as one word?

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

Here, the parts are:

• bølge = wave
• høyde = height

So bølgehøyde is literally wave-height, written as one word, not two.

This is very common in Norwegian. English often uses separate words where Norwegian uses a compound.

What is the base or dictionary form of bølgehøyden?

The dictionary form is bølgehøyde.

The sentence uses the definite singular form:

• bølgehøyde = wave height
• bølgehøyden = the wave height

You may also see the noun listed as ei bølgehøyde or en bølgehøyde, depending on how the feminine noun is treated in Bokmål.

Why does the noun end in -en instead of using a separate word for the?

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun.

So:

• høyde = height
• høyden = the height

The same thing happens in compounds:

• bølgehøyde = wave height
• bølgehøyden = the wave height

So English uses a separate word, the, but Norwegian often adds the definiteness directly to the noun.

Why is the adjective høy and not høyt or høye?