Ulykken var grusom.

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

• ulykke = accident
• ulykken = the accident

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

A useful extra point: if you put an adjective before the noun, Norwegian often uses double definiteness:

• den grusomme ulykken = the gruesome/horrible accident

Yes, in Bokmål that is also possible. Ulykke is a noun that can take either the more common-gender-style forms or feminine forms, depending on writing style and preference.

Possible forms include:

• en ulykke / ulykken
• ei ulykke / ulykka

So ulykken var grusom and ulykka var grusom can both be correct in Bokmål. The version with ulykken is very common.

Var is the past tense of være, which means to be.

So:

• er = is/am/are
• var = was/were

This sentence is therefore in the past tense.

No. Norwegian verbs do not change for person or number the way English verbs sometimes do.

So you say:

• jeg var = I was
• du var = you were
• han var = he was
• vi var = we were

The form var stays the same.

Because the adjective agrees with the noun it describes.

Here, ulykken is singular and not neuter, so the adjective takes the form grusom.

Compare:

• en bil er rød = common gender singular
• et hus er rødt = neuter singular
• biler er røde = plural

The same pattern applies here:

• ulykken var grusom
• det var grusomt
• ulykkene var grusomme

Since grusom comes after var, it is a predicate adjective.

They are related, and sometimes they overlap, but they are not always identical in use.

Norwegian grusom can mean things like:

• gruesome
• horrible
• terrible
• awful

In Ulykken var grusom, it most naturally means something like horrific or terrible, not necessarily only bloody/gory.

Because grusom is just an adjective here, not a noun phrase.

After være (to be), Norwegian often uses an adjective directly:

• Ulykken var grusom

You would use an article only if there were a noun after the adjective, for example:

• Det var en grusom ulykke = It was a horrible accident

So grusom here works like English horrible in The accident was horrible.

This is the basic pattern:

• subject + verb + complement

So:

• Ulykken = subject
• var = finite verb
• grusom = predicate adjective/complement

The sentence also follows the Norwegian V2 rule, which means the finite verb normally comes in the second position in a main clause. Since the subject comes first here, the word order looks very similar to English.

For example:

• Ulykken var grusom
• Dessverre var ulykken grusom

In both cases, the finite verb var stays in second position.

The hardest sound for English speakers is usually y. It is a rounded front vowel that English does not really have.

A few helpful pronunciation points:

• the stress in ulykken falls on LYK
• the stress in grusom falls on GRU
• the double kk in ulykken means the vowel before it is short

So the sentence should not be read with an English y sound. If you are practicing pronunciation, y is one of the sounds worth listening to carefully in native recordings.