Tonehøyden er høy.

The pitch is high.

Breakdown of Tonehøyden er høy.

• være: to be
• høy: high
• tonehøyden: the pitch

Questions & Answers about Tonehøyden er høy.

What does tonehøyden break down into?

Tonehøyden is a compound noun:

• tone = tone
• høyde = height
• tonehøyde = pitch
• tonehøyden = the pitch

Norwegian very often builds nouns this way by combining smaller words into one longer word.

Why does tonehøyden end in -en?

The ending -en is the common definite ending for many masculine nouns in Norwegian.

So:

• en tonehøyde = a pitch
• tonehøyden = the pitch

Unlike English, Norwegian often puts the at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.

Is tonehøyde a masculine noun?

Yes, it is normally treated as a masculine noun in Bokmål.

That is why you get:

• en tonehøyde
• tonehøyden

In practice, many learners mainly need to recognize that the definite form here is -en, which matches a masculine noun.

Why is there er in the middle?