Spillkafeen er populær.

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

Here, spillkafeen is made from:

• spill = game / gaming
• kafe(en) = the café

So Norwegian combines them into one compound: spillkafeen.

A useful rule: in Norwegian compounds, the last part is the main noun, and it decides the gender and endings.

-en is the definite article attached to the end of the noun. It means the.

So:

• en kafe / en kafé = a café
• kafeen / kaféen = the café

That means:

• spillkafe = game café
• spillkafeen = the game café

Because Norwegian often puts the onto the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.

So instead of saying something like the café, Norwegian usually says:

• kafeen

This is very common in Norwegian:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car
• et hus = a house
• huset = the house

In Norwegian compounds, the first part is often just the basic noun stem, not a plural form.

So spillkafe literally looks like game-café, even if in natural English you might think games café, gaming café, or board-game café depending on context.

This is normal in Norwegian compounds:

• bokhandel = bookshop
• barnehage = kindergarten / literally child-garden
• spillkafe = game café

Er means is / am / are. It is the present tense of å være = to be.

Examples:

• Jeg er = I am
• Du er = you are
• Spillkafeen er = the game café is

Unlike English, Norwegian uses the same present form er with all subjects.

Because adjectives in Norwegian agree with the noun in gender and number, even when they come after er.

Here, spillkafeen is:

• singular
• common gender

So the adjective stays in its basic form:

• populær

Compare:

• Spillkafeen er populær. = singular common gender
• Spillet er populært. = singular neuter
• Spillkafeene er populære. = plural

This sentence has normal Norwegian main-clause word order:

• Spillkafeen = subject
• er = verb
• populær = adjective/complement

So it follows the common pattern: subject + verb + complement

Also, Norwegian main clauses follow the verb-second rule, often called V2. That means the finite verb usually comes in the second position. Here the subject is first, so er comes second.

Here are some useful comparisons:

• En spillkafe er populær. = A game café is popular.
• Spillkafeen er populær. = The game café is popular.
• Spillkafeer er populære. = Game cafés are popular.
• Spillkafeene er populære. = The game cafés are popular.

Notice how both the noun and the adjective can change:

• singular: populær
• plural: populære

Yes. You may see both kafe and kafé.

The accent in kafé helps show the stress and pronunciation, but both spellings are used in Bokmål. So:

• spillkafeen
• spillkaféen

Both refer to the same word.

A rough pronunciation guide for an English speaker would be:

SPILL-ka-FEH-en er po-poo-LAIR

A few notes:

• spill sounds a bit like English spill
• kafeen has three syllables: ka-FE-en
• populær has stress on the last syllable
• the Norwegian r is not exactly like most English r sounds

This is only an approximation, but it can help you get started.