Dette er en dobbel dør.

to be

Breakdown of Dette er en dobbel dør.

• en: a
• dette: this
• døren: the door

Questions & Answers about Dette er en dobbel dør.

What does Dette mean here, and why not denne?

Dette means this.

In this sentence, Dette stands alone as a pronoun:

• Dette er ... = This is ...

By contrast, denne is normally used directly before a common-gender noun:

• denne døren = this door

So:

• Dette er en dobbel dør. = This is a double door.
• Denne døren er dobbel. = This door is double.

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Why is the article en and not et?

Because dør is not neuter.

In Norwegian, singular indefinite articles depend on gender:

• en for masculine, and also very often for feminine in Bokmål
• ei for feminine
• et for neuter

So you say:

• en dør
• not et dør

That is why the sentence has en dobbel dør.

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Can I also say ei dør instead of en dør?