Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Bremsebelegget er tynt. - The brake lining is thin.

Hardcore Norwegian
/Taking a bicycle in for repair
/Bremsebelegget er tynt.

Bremsebelegget er tynt.

Word

Bremsebelegget er tynt.

Meaning

The brake lining is thin.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Norwegian

Lesson

Taking a bicycle in for repair

Breakdown of Bremsebelegget er tynt.

thin (not thick)

the brake lining

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Norwegian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Norwegian now

Questions & Answers about Bremsebelegget er tynt.

Why is there no separate word for the in Bremsebelegget?

Because Norwegian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun.

et bremsebelegg = a brake pad / a brake lining
bremsebelegget = the brake pad / the brake lining

The ending -et is the neuter singular definite article. So bremsebelegget already includes the idea of the.

What is bremsebelegget made up of?

It is a compound noun:

bremse- = brake
belegg = lining, coating, pad

So bremsebelegg is literally something like brake lining / brake pad.

A very useful rule in Norwegian is that the last part of a compound decides the gender. Since belegg is neuter, bremsebelegg is also neuter.

Why is it tynt and not tynn?

Because the noun is neuter singular.

The adjective tynn changes form to match the gender and number of the noun:

en tynn ... for common-gender singular
et tynt ... for neuter singular
tynne ... for plural

Since bremsebelegg is a neuter noun, the sentence uses tynt:

Bremsebelegget er tynt.

This agreement also happens when the adjective comes after er, not just before the noun.

What is the dictionary form of tynt?

The dictionary form is tynn.

Common forms are:

tynn = common-gender singular
tynt = neuter singular
tynne = plural, and also the definite form when the adjective comes before a noun

For example:

en tynn plate
et tynt lag
tynne plater

Why doesn’t the adjective become tynne when the noun is definite?

Because in this sentence the adjective is predicative: it comes after er and describes the subject.

In Norwegian, predicative adjectives agree with gender and number, but not with definiteness.

So:

det tynne bremsebelegget = the thin brake pad
- here the adjective is before the noun, so you use tynne
bremsebelegget er tynt = the brake pad is thin
- here the adjective is after er, so you use the neuter singular form tynt

That difference is very common in Norwegian.

Is the word order anything special here?

No. This is a very basic Norwegian sentence pattern:

Bremsebelegget = subject
er = verb
tynt = adjective/complement

So it follows the normal pattern:

subject + verb + complement

If you turn it into a yes/no question, the verb comes first:

Er bremsebelegget tynt?

What would the plural version be?

A natural plural version is:

Bremsebeleggene er tynne. = The brake pads are thin.

Here:

bremsebeleggene = definite plural
tynne = plural adjective form

The indefinite plural is usually:

bremsebelegg

So you can compare:

et bremsebelegg
bremsebelegget
bremsebelegg
bremsebeleggene

Why does tynn lose an n in tynt?

That is a normal spelling pattern in Norwegian.

The adjective is tynn, but the neuter ending gives tynt, not tynnt. The same kind of thing happens in some other adjectives too. So this is something you mainly learn as part of the adjective form:

tynn → tynt

It is not a different word; it is just the neuter form.

How would a Norwegian speaker say this if the adjective came before the noun instead?

Then you would get a different structure:

det tynne bremsebelegget = the thin brake pad

Notice two things happen:

You add det before the noun phrase.
The adjective becomes tynne, not tynt.

So compare:

Bremsebelegget er tynt. = The brake pad is thin.
det tynne bremsebelegget = the thin brake pad

That is a very useful contrast to learn.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io