Historien var magisk.

The story was magical.

Breakdown of Historien var magisk.

• være: to be
• historien: the story
• magisk: magical

Questions & Answers about Historien var magisk.

Why is it historien and not historie?

Historie is the indefinite form: a story or history.

Historien is the definite form: the story or the history.

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

• historie = a story
• historien = the story

So in this sentence, historien means the story.

Why is there no separate word for the?

Because Norwegian usually puts the at the end of the noun as a suffix.

So instead of a separate word like in English, you often get:

• en historie = a story
• historien = the story

A separate word like den is used when there is an adjective before the noun:

• den magiske historien = the magical story

But in Historien var magisk, there is no adjective before historien, so the ending -en is enough.

What does var mean?