Den nominelle renten er lav.

This is a very common Norwegian pattern called double definiteness.

When a noun is definite and has an adjective in front of it, Norwegian usually uses:

• a definite article before the adjective: den
• the noun in its definite form: renten

So:

• renten = the interest rate
• den nominelle renten = the nominal interest rate

You would not normally say nominelle renten by itself in standard Bokmål, and den nominell rente is also wrong.

The pattern is:

• den + adjective + noun in definite form

For common-gender singular nouns, as here:

• den nominelle renten

For comparison:

• en nominell rente = a nominal interest rate
• den nominelle renten = the nominal interest rate

Because adjectives usually take the ending -e when they come before a definite noun.

The base form is:

• nominell = nominal

But in a phrase like the nominal interest rate, Norwegian uses the definite adjective form:

• den nominelle renten

So:

• en nominell rente = a nominal interest rate
• den nominelle renten = the nominal interest rate

This -e ending is very common in definite noun phrases.

Because renten is the definite singular form of rente.

• rente = interest / interest rate
• renten = the interest / the interest rate

Since the sentence is talking about a specific interest rate, Norwegian uses the definite form:

• den nominelle renten

For many common-gender nouns in Bokmål, the definite singular is made by adding -en:

• bil → bilen
• pris → prisen
• rente → renten

Here, den is the definite article used with a common-gender singular noun when there is an adjective before the noun.

In this sentence, den corresponds to the.

Norwegian definite articles depend on gender and number:

• den = common gender singular
• det = neuter singular
• de = plural

So because rente is a common-gender singular noun, the sentence uses den:

• den nominelle renten

Because lav is a predicate adjective here, meaning it comes after er and describes the noun.

Predicate adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number:

• common gender singular: lav
• neuter singular: lavt
• plural: lave

Since renten is common gender singular, the correct form is:

• renten er lav = the interest rate is low

Compare:

• Huset er lavt. = The house is low.
• Prisene er lave. = The prices are low.

So nominelle has -e because it comes before a definite noun, but lav does not because it is a predicate adjective agreeing with a singular common-gender noun.

Yes, in this simple statement it is basically the same:

• Den nominelle renten = subject
• er = verb
• lav = adjective/complement

So the structure is:

• Subject + verb + complement

That gives:

• Den nominelle renten er lav.

This is very close to English:

• The nominal interest rate is low.

It can mean either interest or interest rate, depending on context.

In financial or economic contexts, rente often refers to the interest rate. In this sentence, that is the natural interpretation:

• Den nominelle renten er lav. = The nominal interest rate is low.

Related terms:

• rente = interest / interest rate
• realrente = real interest rate
• nominell rente = nominal interest rate

So even if the single word is rente, English often translates it more naturally as interest rate.

Er is the present tense of å være = to be.

So:

• er = is / are

In this sentence:

• Den nominelle renten er lav. = The nominal interest rate is low.

It works just like English is in this kind of sentence.

You would say:

• En nominell rente er lav.

Notice the changes:

• den → en
• nominelle → nominell
• renten → rente

That is because the phrase becomes indefinite instead of definite.

So compare:

• En nominell rente = a nominal interest rate
• Den nominelle renten = the nominal interest rate

You put ikke after the verb:

• Den nominelle renten er ikke lav.

That means:

• The nominal interest rate is not low.

This is the normal placement in a main clause:

• subject + verb + ikke + adjective

So:

• Renten er lav. = The interest rate is low.
• Renten er ikke lav. = The interest rate is not low.

A rough guide for an English speaker is:

• Den ≈ den
• nominelle ≈ no-mi-NEL-le
• renten ≈ REN-ten
• er is often pronounced very lightly, almost like ær or just a short unstressed sound depending on dialect
• lav ≈ lahv

A rough full approximation could be:

• den no-mi-NEL-le REN-ten ær lahv

A few important points:

• Norwegian r is different from English r in many dialects.
• The a in lav is more like a broad ah sound than the English a in cat.
• Real pronunciation varies by dialect, especially for er and r sounds.