Skiskoene er tørre.

The ski boots are dry.

Breakdown of Skiskoene er tørre.

• være: to be
• tørr: dry
• skiskoene: the ski boots

Questions & Answers about Skiskoene er tørre.

Why is skiskoene one word?

Because Norwegian very often makes compound nouns by joining words together.

• ski = ski
• sko = shoe
• skisko = ski shoe / ski boot

Then the definite plural ending is added to the whole word:

• skisko = a ski shoe / ski boot
• skiskoene = the ski shoes / the ski boots

This is very normal in Norwegian. English often writes these as separate words, but Norwegian usually joins them.

What form is skiskoene?

Skiskoene is definite plural.

Breakdown:

• en skisko = a ski boot
• skiskoen = the ski boot
• skiskoer = ski boots
• skiskoene = the ski boots

So the sentence is talking about specific ski boots, not just ski boots in general.

Why doesn’t Norwegian use a separate word for the here?

In Norwegian, the idea of the is usually added to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word before it.

So:

• sko = shoe
• skoen = the shoe
• skoene = the shoes

That means skiskoene already includes the inside the word. You do not need a separate the like in English.

What does mean here?