Artistgarderoben er stengt.

The artist dressing room is closed.

Breakdown of Artistgarderoben er stengt.

• være: to be
• stengt: closed
• artistgarderoben: the artist dressing room

Questions & Answers about Artistgarderoben er stengt.

Why is artistgarderoben written as one word?

Because Norwegian normally writes compound nouns as a single word.

So:

• artist
  • garderobe → artistgarderobe
• definite form: artistgarderoben

English often uses separate words, but Norwegian usually joins them. Writing artist garderoben would look wrong in standard Norwegian.

Why does artistgarderoben end in -en?

The ending -en is the definite article attached to the noun.

Compare:

• en artistgarderobe = a dressing room
• artistgarderoben = the dressing room

This is very common in Norwegian: instead of putting the before the noun, Norwegian usually adds a definite ending to the noun itself.

Is artistgarderoben singular or plural?

It is singular.

The ending -en here marks definite singular. So it means the dressing room, not the dressing rooms.

A plural form would look different, for example:

• artistgarderober = dressing rooms
• artistgarderobene = the dressing rooms

Why is there no apostrophe in artistgarderoben? Shouldn’t it be something like artist’s?