På den ene siden: pris. På den andre siden: vekt.

On the one hand: price. On the other hand: weight.

Breakdown of På den ene siden: pris. På den andre siden: vekt.

• prisen: the price
• vekten: the weight
• på den ene siden ... på den andre siden ...: on the one hand ... on the other hand ...

Questions & Answers about På den ene siden: pris. På den andre siden: vekt.

Why is this expression på den ene siden ... på den andre siden instead of something simpler?

Because this is a fixed Norwegian pattern for setting up a contrast between two considerations. It works much like on the one hand ... on the other hand in English.

So the sentence is not just listing two random nouns. It is framing them as two competing factors.

What does ene mean here? Does it mean only?

Here, ene means one in the sense of the one ... the other ....

So:

• den ene = the one
• den andre = the other

It does not mean the only in this sentence.

Why do we get both den and siden with -en? Why not just den ene side?

This is a very common Norwegian pattern often called double definiteness.

When you have:

• a definite determiner like den
• plus an adjective like ene or andre
• plus a noun

the noun usually also appears in the definite form.

So:

• den ene siden
• den andre siden

Compare:

• den røde bilen = the red car
• det store huset = the big house

So den ene siden is the normal structure.