Pottemakeren sjekker sprekken på keramikkverkstedet før glasurbrenningen.

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.

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.

sjekker is the present tense of å sjekke (to check).

So:

• å sjekke = to check
• sjekker = checks / is checking

In Norwegian, the present tense often covers both simple present and present progressive meanings from English, depending on context.

So Pottemakeren sjekker sprekken can mean:

• The potter checks the crack
• The potter is checking the crack

Because Norwegian usually expresses definiteness by adding an ending to the noun.

Compare:

• English: the potter

• Norwegian: pottemakeren

• English: the workshop
• Norwegian: verkstedet

This is normal Norwegian structure.
You do sometimes get a separate determiner together with a noun, but that usually happens in other situations, especially with adjectives, for example:

• den store sprekken = the big crack

In your sentence, there are no adjectives, so the simple suffixed definite form is enough.

på keramikkverkstedet means at the ceramics workshop or at the pottery workshop.

The preposition på is often used with places such as workplaces, institutions, and locations where an activity happens. In many cases, English would use at.

So:

• på verkstedet = at the workshop
• på skolen = at school
• på kontoret = at the office

With verksted, both på and i can sometimes appear, but they are not always identical in feel:

• på verkstedet often sounds like at the workshop as a workplace/location
• i verkstedet emphasizes being inside the workshop

In your sentence, på keramikkverkstedet is very natural.

Yes. Norwegian very often forms compound nouns by writing them as one word, where English might use two or more words.

Here:

• keramikk = ceramics
• verksted = workshop
• keramikkverksted = ceramics workshop / pottery workshop
• keramikkverkstedet = the ceramics workshop

This is extremely common in Norwegian. A few other compounds in the sentence are:

• pottemaker = pottery + maker = potter
• glasurbrenning = glaze + firing

For English speakers, remembering to write these as one word is important.

sprekken is singular definite: the crack.

Here is the basic pattern:

• en sprekk = a crack
• sprekken = the crack
• sprekker = cracks
• sprekkene = the cracks

So the sentence is talking about one specific crack, not several cracks.

It means before the glaze firing.

Here, før is a preposition meaning before, and it is followed by a noun phrase:

• før glasurbrenningen = before the glaze firing

This is different from a structure with a full clause, such as:

• før han glaserer = before he glazes
• før de brenner keramikken = before they fire the ceramics

So in your sentence, Norwegian uses a noun (glasurbrenningen) rather than a full verb clause.

It is another compound noun:

• glasur = glaze
• brenning = firing
• glasurbrenning = glaze firing
• glasurbrenningen = the glaze firing

So the sentence refers to a specific firing stage, presumably the one that comes after glazing.

This kind of technical or craft-related compound is very natural in Norwegian.

Yes. This is standard Norwegian main clause word order:

Subject + verb + object + other information

So:

• Pottemakeren = subject
• sjekker = verb
• sprekken = object
• på keramikkverkstedet = place
• før glasurbrenningen = time

This is very similar to ordinary English word order:

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

Norwegian main clauses usually keep the finite verb in the second position, and this sentence follows that pattern naturally.

Yes. Norwegian is fairly flexible, as long as the finite verb stays in second position in a main clause.

For example, you could also say:

• På keramikkverkstedet sjekker pottemakeren sprekken før glasurbrenningen.
• Før glasurbrenningen sjekker pottemakeren sprekken på keramikkverkstedet.

These versions shift the emphasis:

• starting with På keramikkverkstedet highlights the place
• starting with Før glasurbrenningen highlights the time

But the original sentence is perfectly normal and neutral.

Yes, it sounds fairly specific and somewhat technical or craft-related, because of words like:

• pottemakeren
• keramikkverkstedet
• glasurbrenningen

Also, sjekker sprekken suggests a particular crack that matters before the next step in the ceramic process. So this feels like a sentence from a workshop, manual, description, or learning material rather than everyday casual conversation.

That does not make it wrong—just a bit specialized in vocabulary.

A partly indefinite version would be:

• En pottemaker sjekker en sprekk på et keramikkverksted før en glasurbrenning.

That means something like:

• A potter checks a crack at a ceramics workshop before a glaze firing.

But this sounds more general and less natural in context, because the original sentence seems to refer to specific things:

• the potter
• the crack
• the workshop
• the glaze firing

So the definite forms in the original make good sense.