Innsjøen er dyp.

The lake is deep.

Breakdown of Innsjøen er dyp.

• være: to be
• innsjøen: the lake
• dyp: deep

Questions & Answers about Innsjøen er dyp.

Why is innsjøen one word, and what does the -en ending do?

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

• innsjø = lake
• innsjøen = the lake

So -en here works like English the.

This means:

• en innsjø = a lake
• innsjøen = the lake

Why isn’t there a separate word for the in this sentence?

Because Norwegian usually marks definiteness directly on the noun.

In English, you say:

• the lake

In Norwegian, you often say:

• innsjøen

That final -en already means the.

A separate word such as den is usually used when there is an adjective before the noun:

• den dype innsjøen = the deep lake

But in Innsjøen er dyp, there is no adjective inside the noun phrase, so innsjøen by itself is enough.

What does er mean?