Lånebeløpet er lavt.

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as one word.

• lån = loan
• beløp = amount
• lånebeløp = loan amount

Then -et is added to make it definite, so lånebeløpet means the loan amount.

This is very normal in Norwegian. English often uses separate words where Norwegian prefers a compound:

• bank account → bankkonto
• school bus → skolebuss
• loan amount → lånebeløp

The ending -et is the definite article attached to the noun. In English, you usually put the before the noun, but in Norwegian it is often added to the end.

So:

• et lånebeløp = a loan amount
• lånebeløpet = the loan amount

The base noun here is beløp, which is a neuter noun, so its definite singular ending is -et.

Because lavt agrees with the noun lånebeløpet, whose head noun is beløp, and beløp is neuter.

The adjective lav changes form depending on gender and number:

• lav for common gender singular
• lavt for neuter singular
• lave for plural and usually definite forms

So:

• en lav pris = a low price
• et lavt beløp = a low amount
• prisene er lave = the prices are low

In Lånebeløpet er lavt, the adjective comes after er, but it still has to agree with the noun.

Because Norwegian usually expresses the by adding an ending to the noun.

Here, the loan amount is:

• lånebeløpet

not:

• the + noun as in English

This is one of the biggest differences from English. In many basic sentences, the definite ending does the job by itself.

Er is the present tense of å være, which means to be.

So:

• jeg er = I am
• du er = you are
• han/hun er = he/she is
• lånebeløpet er = the loan amount is

Unlike English, Norwegian does not change the present-tense verb depending on the subject. It is always er in the present.

This sentence has the normal word order for a simple statement:

subject + verb + adjective

• Lånebeløpet = subject
• er = verb
• lavt = adjective/complement

So it works very much like English:

• The loan amount is low.

Norwegian main clauses also follow the V2 rule, which means the finite verb is in the second position. In this sentence, the subject comes first, so the sentence looks very straightforward.

Because after å være and similar verbs, Norwegian often uses an adjective as a predicate adjective.

Compare:

• et lavt lånebeløp = a low loan amount

  • adjective before the noun

• Lånebeløpet er lavt = the loan amount is low

  • adjective after er

Both are normal. The adjective still agrees with the noun in gender and number.

Yes. In Norwegian compounds, the last part usually determines the grammatical gender and inflection.

Here:

• lån = loan
• beløp = amount

Since beløp is neuter, the whole compound lånebeløp is also neuter:

• et lånebeløp
• lånebeløpet
• lånebeløpet er lavt

This is a very useful rule for compound nouns in Norwegian.

A rough guide for an English speaker is:

LOH-neh buh-LUR-pet ehr lahvt

A few helpful notes:

• å sounds like a long vowel, somewhat like the vowel in law for many learners.
• beløp has ø, which does not exist in English. It is a rounded front vowel; learners often approximate it at first.
• The t in lavt is pronounced.

If you want a more word-by-word approximation:

• lånebeløpet → LOH-neh-buh-LUR-pet
• er → ehr
• lavt → lahvt

Grammatically, you can, but it usually sounds less natural unless you mean a loan amount in a general or unspecific sense.

Compare:

• Lånebeløpet er lavt = the loan amount is low

  • a specific loan amount

• Et lånebeløp er lavt = a loan amount is low

  • more general or less specific, and often odd without more context

So in most real situations, lånebeløpet is the more natural choice if you are talking about a particular case.

Yes, this sentence is standard Bokmål.

In Nynorsk, you would more likely see:

• Lånebeløpet er lågt.

The main difference here is the adjective:

• Bokmål: lavt
• Nynorsk: lågt

For a learner, the given sentence is perfectly standard and natural in Bokmål.