Personvernbruddet er alvorlig.

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as one word.

Here it breaks down like this:

• personvern = privacy / data protection
• brudd = breach / violation
• personvernbrudd = privacy breach
• personvernbruddet = the privacy breach

In Norwegian, the last part of the compound is the main noun. Here that is brudd.

The ending -et marks the noun as definite singular.

The base noun is:

• et brudd = a breach

Its definite form is:

• bruddet = the breach

When the noun is part of a compound, the definite ending goes on the whole compound:

• et personvernbrudd = a privacy breach
• personvernbruddet = the privacy breach

Because Norwegian often shows the by adding an ending to the noun instead of using a separate word.

So:

• brudd = breach
• bruddet = the breach

And similarly:

• personvernbrudd = privacy breach
• personvernbruddet = the privacy breach

A separate word can appear too, but usually when there is an adjective before a definite noun:

• det alvorlige personvernbruddet = the serious privacy breach

That pattern is often called double definiteness.

Er is the present tense of å være = to be.

So:

• jeg er = I am
• du er = you are
• han/hun er = he/she is
• de er = they are

Norwegian uses the same present-tense form for all persons, so er can mean am / are / is, depending on the subject.

In this sentence, er means is:

• Personvernbruddet er alvorlig = The privacy breach is serious.

Alvorlig is the adjective meaning serious.

A learner might expect a different ending because Norwegian adjectives often change form. But adjectives ending in -ig are commonly the same in the singular forms:

• en alvorlig sak = a serious matter
• et alvorlig brudd = a serious breach

So alvorlig is the correct form here.

Also, after er, the adjective is being used predicatively: it describes the subject after a linking verb.

Because alvorlig is not a noun phrase here; it is a predicate adjective after er.

So Norwegian says:

• Bruddet er alvorlig = The breach is serious

Not:

• Bruddet er et alvorlig

But if the adjective comes before a noun, then you do use an article:

• et alvorlig brudd = a serious breach

So compare:

• Personvernbruddet er alvorlig = The privacy breach is serious
• Det er et alvorlig personvernbrudd = It is a serious privacy breach

Not if you want the same meaning.

Personvernbruddet refers to one specific privacy breach that is already known in the context.

If you say Personvernbrudd er alvorlig, that sounds unnatural as a general statement, because a bare singular count noun usually does not work that way in Norwegian.

Better alternatives would be:

• Et personvernbrudd er alvorlig = A privacy breach is serious
• Personvernbrudd er alvorlige = Privacy breaches are serious

So the forms mean different things:

• personvernbruddet = the specific privacy breach
• et personvernbrudd = a privacy breach
• personvernbrudd = privacy breaches / privacy breach as a general category, depending on context

This sentence has the basic main-clause order:

• subject + verb + complement

So:

• Personvernbruddet = subject
• er = verb
• alvorlig = complement/adjective

That is the normal pattern for a simple statement in Norwegian.

Norwegian is also a verb-second language in main clauses. That means if something else comes first, the verb still stays in the second position:

• I denne saken er personvernbruddet alvorlig. = In this case, the privacy breach is serious.

Notice that er still comes second.

You would say:

• det alvorlige personvernbruddet

This is different from Personvernbruddet er alvorlig.

Compare:

• Personvernbruddet er alvorlig = The privacy breach is serious
• det alvorlige personvernbruddet = the serious privacy breach

Why the extra words and endings?

• det = definite marker
• alvorlige = adjective in the definite form
• personvernbruddet = the privacy breach

This is the normal Norwegian pattern when a definite noun has an adjective before it.