Steingodset er mindre etter krympingen.

Because Norwegian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun.

• steingods = stoneware
• steingodset = the stoneware

The noun steingods is neuter, so the definite singular ending is -et.

This is one of the biggest differences from English: instead of saying the stoneware, Norwegian often says stoneware-the.

In Norwegian, the definite article is often attached to the noun itself.

So instead of:

• English: the stoneware

you get:

• Norwegian: steingodset

A separate article can appear in some other structures, especially with adjectives, but not here.

Er means is/are, while blir means becomes/is becoming.

In this sentence, er mindre describes the current result or state: the stoneware is smaller after the shrinking.

If you said blir mindre, that would focus more on the change happening:

• Steingodset blir mindre. = The stoneware is getting smaller / becomes smaller.

So er is natural when talking about the state after the process.

Mindre is the comparative form meaning smaller / less.

It is the comparative of liten (small), but this adjective is irregular:

• liten = small
• mindre = smaller
• minst = smallest

So you cannot normally form it in a regular way. You just have to learn mindre as the comparative form.

Norwegian, like English, can leave the comparison unstated if it is obvious from context.

So er mindre means is smaller, and the comparison is understood: smaller than before, or smaller than it was before the shrinking.

If you wanted to state the comparison explicitly, you could say something like:

• Steingodset er mindre enn før. = The stoneware is smaller than before.

But here etter krympingen already makes the comparison clear.

Etter is a preposition meaning after.

Here it connects the main statement to a time/event:

• etter krympingen = after the shrinking

So it tells you when this state is true: the stoneware is smaller after that process.

Krympingen is the definite form: the shrinking.

• krymping = shrinking
• krympingen = the shrinking

The definite form is used because it refers to a specific shrinking process, not shrinking in general.

Compare:

• etter krymping = after shrinking / after shrinkage in general
• etter krympingen = after the shrinking, after that particular shrinking process

It is a noun made from a verb, similar to English nouns like shrinking or expansion.

It comes from the verb å krympe = to shrink.

So:

• å krympe = to shrink
• krymping = shrinking

This kind of noun is very common in Norwegian.

Yes. Norwegian often allows the time phrase to come first.

For example:

• Steingodset er mindre etter krympingen.
• Etter krympingen er steingodset mindre.

Both are natural. The second version puts more emphasis on after the shrinking.

Notice that when a phrase is moved to the front, the finite verb still stays in second position:

• Etter krympingen
  • er
    • steingodset
      • mindre

This is the normal V2 word order pattern in Norwegian main clauses.

It is singular here: steingodset.

But semantically it can behave a bit like a mass noun, similar to English stoneware. That means it refers to the material or the ware collectively, not necessarily to one single countable item.

So grammatically it is singular, which is why the sentence uses:

• steingodset er
  not
• steingodset ere

Yes, but that would mean something slightly different.

• Steingodset er mindre etter krympingen.
  Focus: the result/state after the process.

• Steingodset har krympet.
  Focus: the fact that it has shrunk.

So the original sentence emphasizes the size difference after the shrinking, while har krympet emphasizes that the shrinking happened.

Yes, it is grammatical and natural, especially in a technical or descriptive context.

It sounds like the kind of sentence you might see in ceramics, manufacturing, or materials discussion, where you are describing the result of firing or drying.

In more everyday speech, people might sometimes choose slightly simpler wording depending on context, but this sentence is perfectly normal Norwegian.