Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Reservehjulet har et sommerdekk.

Breakdown of Reservehjulet har et sommerdekk.

Why is reservehjulet written as one word?

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

This is very common in Norwegian. English often uses two words where Norwegian uses one.

Why does reservehjulet end in -et?

The ending -et is the definite form of a neuter noun.

For hjul:

The same pattern applies to the compound:

A useful rule: in a compound noun, the last part usually determines the gender. Since hjul is neuter, reservehjul is neuter too.

Why is it et sommerdekk and not en sommerdekk?

Because dekk is also a neuter noun.

So the forms are:

And with the compound:

So both reservehjul and sommerdekk are neuter nouns.