Antallet er høyt.

Antallet means the number or the total number/amount.

The ending -et is the definite article for many neuter nouns in Norwegian. Instead of putting a separate word before the noun, Norwegian often adds the definite article to the end.

• et antall = a number / a quantity
• antallet = the number / the quantity

So antallet is the definite form of antall.

Yes. Antall is a neuter noun, so it takes et in the indefinite singular:

• et antall = a number / a quantity

Because it is neuter, adjectives that describe it often take -t in the singular when used predicatively, which is why you get høyt in this sentence.

Because antallet is grammatically neuter.

The adjective høy changes form depending on what it describes:

• høy for common-gender singular nouns
• høyt for neuter singular nouns
• høye for plural and many definite contexts

Here, the structure is:

• Antallet = neuter singular definite noun
• er = is
• høyt = high

So høyt is the correct neuter singular form.

In Norwegian, the definite article is often attached to the noun as a suffix.

So instead of saying something like separate the number, Norwegian says:

• antallet

This is very common in Norwegian:

• boken = the book
• huset = the house
• antallet = the number

So the idea of the is already built into the noun.

The sentence follows a very simple pattern:

• Antallet = subject
• er = verb
• høyt = subject complement / adjective

So it is basically:

• The number is high

This is a standard subject + verb + adjective structure.

Usually, Antall er høyt sounds incomplete or unnatural on its own.

That is because antall often needs either:

• a determiner: et antall
• or the definite form: antallet
• or a more specific phrase: antall elever, antall biler, etc.

More natural examples would be:

• Antallet er høyt. = The number is high.
• Antall elever er høyt. = The number of students is high.
• Et høyt antall elever kom. = A high number of students came.

So in this exact sentence, antallet is the natural choice.

This is a very common learner question.

• antall = number/quantity/how many
• nummer = number in the sense of an identifying label

Examples:

• et stort antall mennesker = a large number of people
• telefonnummer = telephone number
• husnummer = house number

So in Antallet er høyt, the meaning is about quantity, not an identifying number. That is why antall is used, not nummer.

Høyt is correct and natural here, especially in formal or neutral language.

However, Norwegian can sometimes also use stort with antall in other structures:

• et stort antall = a large number
• Antallet er høyt = The number is high

So both ideas exist, but they are used in slightly different ways:

• with the noun directly: et stort antall
• after er with antallet: antallet er høyt

Both are natural, but you should learn them as common patterns rather than try to translate word-for-word from English every time.

A careful approximation is:

• Antallet ≈ AHN-tah-let
• er ≈ air or a very light ehr
• høyt ≈ something like hoyt, but with the Norwegian ø sound, which does not exist exactly in English

A few pronunciation notes:

• The tt in antallet is pronounced as a clear t sound.
• The er is often unstressed and can sound quite short in natural speech.
• The vowel ø in høyt is one of the trickier Norwegian vowels for English speakers.

Yes, it can refer to both.

Antall is used for countable items, whether they are people or things:

• Antallet studenter er høyt. = The number of students is high.
• Antallet biler er høyt. = The number of cars is high.

So antallet is not limited to one type of noun. It simply refers to how many of something there are.

It sounds mostly neutral and can also feel slightly formal, depending on context.

Antallet er høyt is the kind of sentence you might see in:

• reports
• news
• academic writing
• factual statements

In very casual conversation, people might sometimes choose a more everyday phrasing depending on what they are talking about. But the sentence itself is perfectly natural and correct.

Yes, but in a basic statement, Antallet er høyt is the normal order.

If you move something else to the front in Norwegian, the verb usually still stays in second position. For example:

• I år er antallet høyt. = This year, the number is high.

Here, I år comes first, so er still stays in second position.

That is part of the common Norwegian V2 word order pattern.