Dette er den femte gangen.

Dette means this. It is the neuter/demonstrative form used when you point to or refer to something as a whole, like this situation, this event, or this in general.

In Dette er den femte gangen, dette is the subject: This is the fifth time.

A learner often compares it with det. In many cases, both det and dette can appear in similar-looking sentences, but dette is more clearly demonstrative, with the sense of this.

Because gang is a common-gender noun in Norwegian, not a neuter noun.

• en gang = a time, an occasion
• definite singular: gangen = the time / the occasion

When an adjective or ordinal comes before a definite noun, Norwegian normally uses:

• den for common gender
• det for neuter
• de for plural

So:

• den femte gangen = the fifth time
• not det femte gangen

Fem means five. Femte means fifth.

This sentence needs an ordinal number, not a cardinal number, because it is talking about order in a series:

• første = first
• andre = second
• tredje = third
• fjerde = fourth
• femte = fifth

So den femte gangen literally means the fifth time.

Because gangen is the definite singular form of gang.

The noun forms are:

• en gang = a time / an occasion
• gangen = the time / the occasion
• ganger = times / occasions
• gangene = the times / the occasions

In this sentence, Norwegian uses the definite form because it is talking about a specific numbered occurrence: the fifth time.

It may look that way from an English perspective, but this is normal Norwegian grammar.

When a noun is definite and has a preceding adjective or ordinal, Norwegian usually uses double definiteness:

• a definite article before the adjective: den
• a definite ending on the noun: -en

So:

• gangen = the time
• den femte gangen = the fifth time

This pattern is very common:

• den store bilen = the big car
• det røde huset = the red house
• de gamle bøkene = the old books

So den femte gangen is exactly what Norwegian grammar expects.

Yes, in this sentence gang means time in the sense of occasion or instance, not time as in hours and minutes.

Examples:

• første gang = first time
• en gang til = one more time
• mange ganger = many times

But time in Norwegian usually means hour, not time in the broad English sense.

So this is an important difference:

• English time can mean many things
• Norwegian time usually means hour
• Norwegian gang often means time/occasion

In standard Norwegian, den is normally needed here.

The natural form is:

• Dette er den femte gangen.

Because the noun phrase is definite and includes an ordinal, Norwegian expects the full definite structure.

Leaving out den would sound ungrammatical or at least nonstandard in ordinary Bokmål.

Yes. A very common alternative is:

• Dette er femte gang.

This version is also widely used and sounds natural in many contexts.

The difference is roughly this:

• Dette er den femte gangen = more explicitly This is the fifth time
• Dette er femte gang = also This is the fifth time, but with a slightly more fixed-expression feel

Both are common, but the version you gave is very clear and fully grammatical.

A careful pronunciation would be approximately:

DET-te er den FEM-te GANG-en

A few useful notes:

• dette has two syllables
• er is often pronounced very lightly
• den is usually unstressed
• femte may feel a bit tricky because of the consonant cluster
• gangen has stress on the first syllable: GANG-en

In natural speech, some sounds may become a little softer or shorter, but the main stress is usually on femte and gangen.

Because this is a simple present-tense statement with a very basic structure:

• Dette = subject
• er = verb
• den femte gangen = subject complement

So the pattern is:

Subject + verb + complement

That is why it lines up quite neatly with English:

• This is the fifth time.

Many Norwegian sentences follow word order that feels familiar to English speakers, especially in straightforward main clauses like this one.

Yes. Dette er den femte gangen is normal, correct Norwegian and works in both neutral written language and everyday speech.

It is neither especially formal nor especially slangy. It sounds natural in situations like:

• complaining: This is the fifth time you’ve done that
• emphasizing repetition: This is the fifth time we’ve tried
• describing a repeated event: This is the fifth time it has happened

So it is a very useful sentence pattern to learn.