Sykdommen er dødelig.

The disease is deadly.

Breakdown of Sykdommen er dødelig.

• være: to be
• sykdommen: the illness; disease
• dødelig: deadly; fatal

Questions & Answers about Sykdommen er dødelig.

Why does sykdommen have -en at the end?

Because -en is the definite singular ending for many masculine nouns in Norwegian.

• sykdom = disease / illness
• sykdommen = the disease

So instead of putting a separate word like the in front, Norwegian often adds the definiteness to the end of the noun.

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Why isn’t there a separate word for the?

In Norwegian, the is usually built into the noun as a suffix.

Compare:

• en sykdom = a disease
• sykdommen = the disease

This is very different from English, where the is a separate word.

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What does er mean here?