Den nominelle renten er lav.

The nominal interest rate is low.

Breakdown of Den nominelle renten er lav.

• være: to be
• lav: low
• den nominelle renten: the nominal interest rate

Questions & Answers about Den nominelle renten er lav.

Why are both den and renten definite? Why isn’t it just one or the other?

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

Why is it nominelle and not nominell?

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.