Sykkelskjermen er ødelagt.

to be

Breakdown of Sykkelskjermen er ødelagt.

• ødelagt: damaged
• sykkelskjermen: the bicycle mudguard

Questions & Answers about Sykkelskjermen er ødelagt.

Why is sykkelskjermen written as one word?

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

Here, sykkelskjermen is made up of:

• sykkel = bicycle
• skjerm = screen / shield / fender, depending on context
• -en = the definite ending

So the basic noun is sykkelskjerm, and sykkelskjermen means the bicycle fender/mudguard.

Why does the noun end in -en?

The ending -en marks the noun as singular definite.

Compare:

• en sykkelskjerm = a bicycle fender
• sykkelskjermen = the bicycle fender

In Norwegian, the is often attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word as in English.

Why is there no separate word for the?

In Norwegian, definiteness is usually built into the noun itself.

So instead of:

• English: the bicycle fender

you often get:

• Norwegian: sykkelskjermen

However, if there is an adjective before the noun, Norwegian often uses both a separate definite word and the definite noun form:

• den ødelagte sykkelskjermen = the broken bicycle fender

This is sometimes called double definiteness.

What does er mean here?