Kompostbingen står bak drivhuset.

to stand

Breakdown of Kompostbingen står bak drivhuset.

• bak: behind
• drivhuset: the greenhouse
• kompostbingen: the compost bin

Questions & Answers about Kompostbingen står bak drivhuset.

Why is kompostbingen one word?

Norwegian very often makes compound nouns by joining words together into a single word.

Here:

• kompost = compost
• binge = bin / enclosure / container

So kompostbinge = compost bin, and the definite form becomes kompostbingen = the compost bin.

This is much more natural in Norwegian than writing the parts separately.

Why does kompostbingen end in -en?

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

So:

• en kompostbinge = a compost bin
• kompostbingen = the compost bin

English usually uses a separate word, the, but Norwegian often adds the definiteness to the end of the noun.

Why is it drivhuset and not drivhusen?

Because drivhus is a neuter noun.

In Norwegian, the definite singular ending depends on the noun’s gender:

• many masculine nouns take -en
• many neuter nouns take -et

So:

• et drivhus = a greenhouse
• drivhuset = the greenhouse

That is why the sentence has kompostbingen but drivhuset.