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Learn Hardcore Norwegian: En kubikkmeter er mye plass. - A cubic metre is a lot of space.

Hardcore Norwegian
/Renting a self-storage unit
/En kubikkmeter er mye plass.

En kubikkmeter er mye plass.

En kubikkmeter er mye plass.

A cubic metre is a lot of space.

Breakdown of En kubikkmeter er mye plass.

Questions & Answers about En kubikkmeter er mye plass.

Why is it en kubikkmeter and not ett kubikkmeter?

Because kubikkmeter is a noun whose gender comes from meter, the last part of the compound.

In Norwegian, compound nouns usually take the gender of the final element:

en meter
therefore en kubikkmeter

So en kubikkmeter is correct in Bokmål.

Why is kubikkmeter written as one word?

Because Norwegian normally writes compound nouns as a single word.

So where English has cubic meter, Norwegian has:

kubikk
- meter = kubikkmeter

This is very common in Norwegian:

togstasjon = train station
sommerferie = summer vacation
kjøkkenbord = kitchen table

If you wrote it as two words, it would usually look unnatural or incorrect in standard Norwegian.

Does en kubikkmeter mean a cubic meter or one cubic meter?

It can mean either, depending on context.

In this sentence, en is the indefinite article, so the most natural English translation is a cubic meter.

But Norwegian en can also overlap with the number one, especially when the exact quantity matters. If someone wanted to strongly emphasize the number, they might stress en in speech.

Here, though, it is just the normal indefinite form:

En kubikkmeter er mye plass = A cubic meter is a lot of space

the cubic metre

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Why is er in the second position?

Because Norwegian main clauses normally follow V2 word order, which means the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

Here the sentence is:

En kubikkmeter = subject
er = verb
mye plass = complement

So the pattern is:

Subject + Verb + Rest

This is the most basic Norwegian sentence structure.

Why does it say mye plass and not mange plass?

Because plass here is being treated as an uncountable noun, like space or room in English.

In Norwegian:

mye is used with uncountable nouns
mange is used with countable plural nouns

So:

mye plass = a lot of space
mange steder = many places

Since you do not usually count plass in this meaning, mye is correct.

Why is there no article before plass?

Because plass is being used in a general, uncountable sense.

Mye plass means:

a lot of space
much room

In English, uncountable nouns often also appear without an article:

a lot of water
a lot of time
a lot of space

It works similarly in Norwegian:

mye vann
mye tid
mye plass

So plass does not need en, ei, or et here.

Why use mye plass instead of something like stor plass?

Because mye plass focuses on the amount of space, not the size of a specific place.

mye plass = a lot of space / plenty of room
stor plass would sound more like a large place/area, which is a different idea

In this sentence, the point is that a cubic meter represents a substantial amount of volume, so mye plass is the natural phrasing.

What does plass mean here exactly?

Here, plass means space or room.

It is a very common Norwegian word and can mean slightly different things depending on context:

Det er ikke nok plass = There is not enough space
Sitt her, det er plass = Sit here, there is room
en plass i køen = a place in the line

In En kubikkmeter er mye plass, it clearly means physical space or volume.

Is this a general statement?

Yes. The sentence is making a general observation:

A cubic meter is a lot of space

Using the indefinite singular noun this way is very common in Norwegian, just like in English:

En elefant er et stort dyr = An elephant is a large animal
En kubikkmeter er mye plass = A cubic meter is a lot of space

So the sentence is not talking about one specific cubic meter, but about the unit in general.

Could you also say Kubikkmeter er mye plass without en?

Normally, no. In standard Norwegian, a singular countable noun like kubikkmeter usually needs an article when used this way.

So:

En kubikkmeter er mye plass = correct

Without en, it sounds incomplete or ungrammatical in ordinary Bokmål.

Why is plass not plural?

Because the idea is not many spaces, but space in general.

Just as English says:

That takes a lot of space, not usually a lot of spaces

Norwegian uses singular uncountable plass in the same way:

Det tar mye plass = It takes up a lot of space

So mye plass is the natural form.

Is this sentence natural Norwegian?

Yes, it is natural and idiomatic.

A Norwegian speaker would easily understand it as:

A cubic meter is a lot of space
or more loosely, A cubic meter is quite a lot of room

It sounds like a normal everyday comment about volume or storage.

Can plass and rom both mean space? Why is plass used here?

Yes, both can relate to space, but they are not always interchangeable.

plass often means room, space available, or enough physical capacity
rom can mean space, but also a room as in a room in a building

In everyday Norwegian, mye plass is a very common way to say a lot of space. That is why plass sounds especially natural here.

For example:

Dette møbelet tar mye plass = This piece of furniture takes up a lot of space

So plass is the best fit in this sentence.

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