Luft-til-luft-varmepumpen varmer stuen.

the living room

Breakdown of Luft-til-luft-varmepumpen varmer stuen.

• varme: to heat
• luft-til-luft-varmepumpen: the air-to-air heat pump

Questions & Answers about Luft-til-luft-varmepumpen varmer stuen.

Why is luft-til-luft-varmepumpen one long word with hyphens?

Norwegian very often builds compound nouns by joining words together.

Here, luft-til-luft-varmepumpen breaks down like this:

• luft = air
• til = to
• luft = air
• varmepumpe = heat pump
• -en = the (definite singular ending)

So the core noun is varmepumpe = heat pump, and luft-til-luft- tells you what type it is: an air-to-air heat pump.

The hyphens are helpful because the first part is already a multi-word expression. Norwegian often uses hyphens in compounds like this to keep them readable.

Where is the word the in this sentence?

In Norwegian, the is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

So:

• varmepumpen = the heat pump
• stuen = the living room

This is very normal in Norwegian. Compare:

• en varmepumpe = a heat pump
• varmepumpen = the heat pump

and:

• en/ei stue = a living room
• stuen / stua = the living room

Why does stuen also end in -en?