Katastrofen er alvorlig.

to be

Breakdown of Katastrofen er alvorlig.

• alvorlig: serious
• katastrofen: the disaster

Questions & Answers about Katastrofen er alvorlig.

Why does katastrofen mean the catastrophe and not just catastrophe?

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

• katastrofe = a catastrophe / catastrophe
• katastrofen = the catastrophe

So the -en ending is doing the job that the does in English.

Why is the ending -en and not -et?

Because katastrofe is not a neuter noun.

In Bokmål, nouns have grammatical gender. Very roughly:

• many non-neuter nouns take -en in the definite singular
• neuter nouns take -et

So:

• katastrofen = correct
• katastrofet = not correct

Compare:

• en bil → bilen
• et hus → huset

Could I also hear katastrofa instead of katastrofen?