Bevegelsen er liten.

Bevegelsen means the movement.

It comes from the noun bevegelse, which means movement. The ending -en marks the noun as definite singular, so:

• en bevegelse = a movement
• bevegelsen = the movement

So the sentence is talking about one specific movement.

Because in Norwegian, the is usually added to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word before it.

So instead of saying something like the movement, Norwegian often says:

• bevegelsen

This is very common in Norwegian:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car

So bevegelsen already includes the idea of the.

Because bevegelse is a common gender singular noun, and the adjective has to agree with it.

The adjective liten changes form:

• liten = common gender singular
• lite = neuter singular
• små = plural

Since bevegelsen is singular and common gender, liten is the correct form.

This is a very common question.

In Bevegelsen er liten, the adjective comes after the verb er, so it is a predicative adjective. Predicative adjectives in Norwegian usually agree in gender and number, but not in definiteness.

So you get:

• Bevegelsen er liten = The movement is small

But when the adjective comes before the noun, it usually takes the definite form:

• den lille bevegelsen = the small movement

So:

• bevegelsen er liten = adjective after er → liten
• den lille bevegelsen = adjective before the noun → lille

Yes. Liten is one of the adjectives that learners usually have to memorize separately.

Its main forms are:

• liten = common gender singular
• lite = neuter singular
• små = plural
• lille = definite form / often used before a definite noun

Examples:

• En bevegelse er liten = A movement is small
• Et problem er lite = A problem is small
• Bevegelsene er små = The movements are small
• den lille bevegelsen = the small movement

The word order is:

• Bevegelsen = subject
• er = verb
• liten = subject complement / adjective

So the pattern is:

Subject + verb + adjective

This is the normal word order in a simple Norwegian statement.

Also, Norwegian is a verb-second language, which means the finite verb usually comes in the second position in main clauses. In this sentence, that gives the normal order:

Bevegelsen er liten.

The adjective would change to match the noun.

Examples:

• Huset er lite = The house is small
  Here hus is neuter, so the adjective is lite.

• Bevegelsene er små = The movements are small
  Here the noun is plural, so the adjective is små.

• En bevegelse er liten = A movement is small
  Same gender and number as your original sentence, so it stays liten.

This is a good way to remember adjective agreement in Norwegian.

A rough English-friendly pronunciation would be:

buh-VEH-gel-sen er LEE-ten

A few helpful notes:

• bevegelsen has the main stress on VEH
• the g in bevegelse is a hard g
• liten has stress on the first syllable

The exact pronunciation varies a bit by dialect, but that approximation is a good starting point.