Pottemakeren sjekker sprekken på keramikkverkstedet før glasurbrenningen.

The potter checks the crack at the pottery workshop before the glaze firing.

Breakdown of Pottemakeren sjekker sprekken på keramikkverkstedet før glasurbrenningen.

• før: before
• på: at
• sjekke: to check
• keramikkverkstedet: the pottery workshop

Questions & Answers about Pottemakeren sjekker sprekken på keramikkverkstedet før glasurbrenningen.

Why do several words end in -en or -et here?

Those endings usually mark the definite form in Norwegian, where English would often use the.

In this sentence:

• Pottemakeren = the potter
• sprekken = the crack
• keramikkverkstedet = the ceramics workshop / the pottery workshop
• glasurbrenningen = the glaze firing

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

A quick breakdown:

• en pottemaker → pottemakeren
• en sprekk → sprekken
• et keramikkverksted → keramikkverkstedet
• en glasurbrenning → glasurbrenningen

This is one of the most important differences from English.

Why is it Pottemakeren and not just pottemakeren?

Because it is the first word of the sentence, it starts with a capital letter.

So:

• pottemakeren = the potter
• Pottemakeren = the potter, when it appears at the beginning of a sentence

Norwegian capitalization is much like English in this respect.