Onsdagen kommer etter tirsdagen.

to come

Breakdown of Onsdagen kommer etter tirsdagen.

• etter: after
• tirsdagen: the Tuesday
• onsdagen: the Wednesday

Questions & Answers about Onsdagen kommer etter tirsdagen.

Why do onsdagen and tirsdagen end in -en?

The ending -en is the definite singular ending. It works a bit like the in English.

• onsdag = Wednesday
• onsdagen = the Wednesday
• tirsdag = Tuesday
• tirsdagen = the Tuesday

So the sentence is literally something like The Wednesday comes after the Tuesday.

That is grammatical, but in a general statement about the order of the weekdays, Norwegian often prefers the basic form without the definite ending:

• Onsdag kommer etter tirsdag.

Is this the most natural way to say Wednesday comes after Tuesday in Norwegian?

Not usually. The more natural general statement is:

• Onsdag kommer etter tirsdag.

Using onsdagen and tirsdagen sounds more specific, as if you are talking about particular days in a certain context, not just the general order of the week.

So:

• Onsdag kommer etter tirsdag = the normal generic statement
• Onsdagen kommer etter tirsdagen = understandable, but more marked/specific

Why is Onsdagen capitalized, but tirsdagen is not?