Presten er i kirken.

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of appearing as a separate word.

• prest = priest
• presten = the priest
• kirke = church
• kirken = the church

So Presten er i kirken uses two definite nouns: the priest and the church.

The basic forms are:

• en prest = a priest
• en kirke = a church

The forms in the sentence are the definite singular forms:

• presten = the priest
• kirken = the church

So if you look these words up, you would usually look for prest and kirke.

Er is the present tense of å være, which means to be.

It corresponds to English am, is, or are, depending on the subject:

• jeg er = I am
• du er = you are
• han er = he is
• vi er = we are

Norwegian does not change the verb the way English does, so er stays the same for all persons.

I usually means in.

In this sentence, i kirken means in the church. It is the normal preposition for being inside a building or enclosed place.

As in many languages, prepositions do not always match English perfectly, but here the usage is very close:

• i huset = in the house
• i bilen = in the car
• i kirken = in the church

You would say:

En prest er i en kirke.

Here the nouns are indefinite instead of definite:

• en prest = a priest
• en kirke = a church

Compare:

• Presten er i kirken = The priest is in the church
• En prest er i en kirke = A priest is in a church

This is the normal word order for a simple Norwegian main clause:

subject + verb + other information

So:

• Presten = subject
• er = verb
• i kirken = prepositional phrase

This is very similar to English here.

It also fits the general Norwegian V2 rule, which means the finite verb normally comes in second position in main clauses. Since the subject comes first, the verb comes right after it.

Yes. The definite form presten usually refers to a specific priest, either:

• already mentioned before, or
• understood from the situation

So it often has the sense of the priest we are talking about or the local priest.

If you do not mean a specific priest, you would normally use en prest instead.

Yes. In modern Norwegian, prest can be used for a priest regardless of gender.

So presten does not automatically mean the person is male. The gender would usually come from context, or from pronouns later in the conversation if needed.

Yes, in Bokmål that is possible.

Many nouns that are historically feminine can appear in two ways:

• en kirke / kirken
• ei kirke / kirka

So both i kirken and i kirka can be correct in Bokmål.

Very generally:

• kirken often feels more neutral or standard
• kirka can feel more colloquial or more clearly feminine in style

You will see both forms.

It is capitalized only because it is the first word of the sentence.

Unlike German, Norwegian does not capitalize all nouns. So in the middle of a sentence, you would write:

• Jeg ser presten i kirken.

not with capital letters on presten or kirken.