Havet er mektig.

to be

Breakdown of Havet er mektig.

• havet: the sea
• mektig: powerful

Questions & Answers about Havet er mektig.

Why is Havet written as one word? Where is the word for the?

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun.

• hav = sea / ocean
• havet = the sea / the ocean

So -et is the definite ending here. Norwegian often does this instead of using a separate word like English the.

Because hav is a neuter noun, its definite singular form is -et:

• et hav = a sea / an ocean
• havet = the sea / the ocean

Why is it havet and not haven?

That is because hav is a neuter noun in Norwegian.

Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender, and in Bokmål the common patterns are:

• en noun → definite singular usually -en
• ei noun → definite singular usually -a
• et noun → definite singular usually -et

Since it is:

• et hav = a sea / an ocean

the definite form becomes:

• havet = the sea / the ocean

If it were a masculine noun, you would expect -en instead.

Is hav the same as sea or ocean?