Flyttemeldingen må sendes uavhengig av om postadressen endres eller ikke.

Flyttemeldingen is made up of:

• flytte = to move
• melding = message / notice / notification
• -en = the (definite singular ending for many masculine nouns)

So en flyttemelding = a change-of-address notice / moving notification, and
flyttemeldingen = the change-of-address notice.

Norwegian very often forms nouns this way by combining words into one compound noun.

Because Norwegian uses compound nouns much more than English does.

So where English might use:

• moving notice
• postal address
• change notice

Norwegian often writes them as single words:

• flyttemelding
• postadresse

This is completely normal and very important in Norwegian spelling.

Må means must / has to.

So Flyttemeldingen må sendes means:

• The change-of-address notice must be sent

This gives the sentence a sense of obligation or requirement.

A learner may compare it with skal, but they are not the same:

• må = must, necessity
• skal = shall / will / is supposed to

Here, må is the natural choice because the sentence is stating a rule.

Sendes is a passive form.

• sender = sends / is sending
• sendes = is sent / must be sent

So:

• Noen sender flyttemeldingen = Someone sends the notice
• Flyttemeldingen sendes = The notice is sent

In this sentence, the focus is not on who sends it, but on the fact that it must be sent. That is why the passive is used.

For the same reason: it is also passive-style wording.

• endre = to change
• endres = is changed / changes

So:

• postadressen endres = the postal address is changed / the postal address changes

In English, we often prefer an active subject like you change your postal address, but Norwegian frequently uses this more impersonal style in official language.

Uavhengig av means independent of or, more naturally here, regardless of.

It is a fixed expression.

So:

• uavhengig av om ... eller ikke = regardless of whether ... or not

In this sentence:

• uavhengig av om postadressen endres eller ikke
• regardless of whether the postal address is changed or not

This is a very common formal structure in Norwegian.

Here, om means whether, not about.

Compare:

• Vi snakker om boka. = We are talking about the book.
• Jeg vet ikke om han kommer. = I don’t know whether he is coming.

In your sentence:

• om postadressen endres eller ikke = whether the postal address changes or not

So this is one of those cases where om has more than one meaning, and context tells you which one it is.

Because after om meaning whether, you usually get a subordinate clause, and Norwegian subordinate clauses normally keep the verb after the subject unless there is an adverb changing the order.

So:

• postadressen = subject
• endres = verb

That gives:

• om postadressen endres

This is normal clause order for Norwegian.

If there were an adverb like ikke inside the clause, it would typically come before the verb in a subordinate clause:

• om postadressen ikke endres = whether the postal address is not changed

But in your sentence, the negation is expressed as eller ikke at the end instead.

Eller ikke means or not.

So:

• om postadressen endres eller ikke = whether the postal address changes or not

This is a very common pattern in both Norwegian and English:

• whether X or not
• om X eller ikke

It lets Norwegian express both possibilities without repeating the whole clause.

Yes, but it would slightly change the structure.

For example:

• uavhengig av om postadressen endres eller ikke = regardless of whether the postal address changes or not
• uavhengig av om postadressen ikke endres = regardless of whether the postal address does not change

The first version is broader and more natural here because it explicitly covers both possibilities: change or no change.

That is why eller ikke is preferred in this sentence.

Because the sentence is talking about the postal address in a specific, understood sense.

• en postadresse = a postal address
• postadressen = the postal address

In official or administrative language, Norwegian often uses the definite form when referring to a specific category that is relevant in the situation, even when English might sound slightly more general.

Yes, it sounds fairly formal and administrative.

Clues include:

• passive forms like sendes and endres
• the expression uavhengig av
• the overall impersonal style

This is exactly the kind of wording you would expect in a government or official information text.

A less formal version might say something more directly like:

• Du må sende flyttemelding selv om postadressen ikke endres.

But the original sounds more official and general.

Grammatically, you could try, but it would not sound natural in English.

A better English rendering would be something like:

• The change-of-address notification must be sent
• A change-of-address notice must be submitted
• You must submit a moving notification

This is a good example of why compound nouns should not always be translated word-for-word.

Yes, several things:

1. Compound nouns

   • flyttemeldingen
   • postadressen

2. Passive forms with -s

   • sendes
   • endres

3. The fixed expression

   • uavhengig av = regardless of

4. om meaning whether

   • not about

5. eller ikke

   • a standard way to say or not

So this one sentence is a very useful example of formal Norwegian grammar and style.