Dette er en tørrdrakt snarere enn en våtdrakt.

to be

Breakdown of Dette er en tørrdrakt snarere enn en våtdrakt.

• en: a
• dette: this
• tørrdrakten: the dry suit

Questions & Answers about Dette er en tørrdrakt snarere enn en våtdrakt.

Why does the sentence start with dette instead of det?

Dette means this and is often used when pointing something out or identifying something.

So Dette er en tørrdrakt ... is like saying This is a drysuit ...

By contrast, det often means it or that, depending on context.

A useful shortcut:

• dette = this
• det = it / that

Also, in Norwegian, dette er ... is very common when introducing or identifying something you can see, such as an object in front of you or in a picture.

Why is it en tørrdrakt and en våtdrakt?

Because both tørrdrakt and våtdrakt are common-gender nouns in Norwegian, so they take the indefinite article en.

• en tørrdrakt = a drysuit
• en våtdrakt = a wetsuit

The article is repeated because each noun phrase needs its own article:

• en tørrdrakt
• en våtdrakt

You cannot normally leave out the second en here.

Are tørrdrakt and våtdrakt really written as one word?