Oslo er bostedskommunen.

to be

Breakdown of Oslo er bostedskommunen.

• Oslo: Oslo
• bostedskommunen: the municipality of residence

Questions & Answers about Oslo er bostedskommunen.

Why is bostedskommunen one long word?

Because Norwegian very often makes compound nouns by joining words together.

Here, bostedskommunen is built from:

• bosted = place of residence
• kommune = municipality
• -en = the (definite ending for a common-gender noun)

So:

• bostedskommune = municipality of residence
• bostedskommunen = the municipality of residence

This kind of compound word is extremely common in Norwegian.

What does the ending -en mean in bostedskommunen?

The ending -en marks the noun as definite, like the in English.

Compare:

• en kommune = a municipality
• kommunen = the municipality

So:

• en bostedskommune = a municipality of residence
• bostedskommunen = the municipality of residence

In Norwegian, the definite article is often added to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

Why is there no separate word for the before bostedskommunen?