Matboden selger suppe.

the soup

Breakdown of Matboden selger suppe.

• selge: to sell
• matboden: the food stall

Questions & Answers about Matboden selger suppe.

Why is matboden written as one word?

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word. Here, mat + bod become matbod, meaning something like food stall or food booth. Then the definite ending is added, giving matboden.

A useful rule: in Norwegian, the last part of the compound is the main noun.

What does the ending -en in Matboden mean?

-en is the definite singular ending for many common-gender nouns in Bokmål.

So:

• en bod = a stall / a booth
• boden = the stall / the booth

That means matboden is the food stall.

Why is Matboden capitalized here?

It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

In Norwegian, common nouns are normally not capitalized in the middle of a sentence. So if it came later, you would usually write matboden, not Matboden.

Why is the verb selger and not selge?