Tørketiden er lang.

The drying time is long.

Breakdown of Tørketiden er lang.

• være: to be
• lang: long
• tørketiden: the drying time

Questions & Answers about Tørketiden er lang.

What is tørketiden made of?

Tørketiden is a compound noun:

• tørke = drying / to dry
• tid = time
• -en = the definite ending for a common-gender noun

So tørketid means drying time, and tørketiden means the drying time.

Norwegian very often joins nouns into one word, so what English writes as two words is often one word in Norwegian.

Why is there no separate word for the?

In Norwegian, the is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of standing alone in front of it.

Here:

• tid = time
• tiden = the time

And in the compound:

• tørketid = drying time
• tørketiden = the drying time

This is a very common feature of Norwegian nouns.

Why is it er?

Er is the present tense of å være (to be).

So:

• er = is / are

In this sentence, it links the subject and the description:

• Tørketiden = subject
• er = is
• lang = long

So grammatically it works just like is in English.

Why is the adjective lang and not langt or ?