Skredderen åpner systuen snart.

soon

Breakdown of Skredderen åpner systuen snart.

• åpne: to open
• skredderen: the tailor
• systuen: the sewing workshop

Questions & Answers about Skredderen åpner systuen snart.

Why do skredderen and systuen end in -en?

Because Norwegian usually marks the by adding it to the end of the noun.

• skredder = tailor
• skredderen = the tailor
• systue = sewing room / sewing workshop / tailor’s shop
• systuen = the sewing room / the workshop / the shop

So instead of a separate word like English the, Norwegian often uses a definite ending.

A useful extra point: if there is an adjective, Norwegian often uses both a separate article and the definite ending, for example den nye systuen = the new sewing workshop.

Why is åpner in the present tense if the sentence talks about the future?

That is very common in Norwegian. The present tense is often used for the near future when a time word makes the meaning clear.

So:

• Skredderen åpner systuen snart.
  = The tailor opens the shop soon / is opening the shop soon / will open the shop soon.

The word snart tells you this is about something that has not happened yet.

English also sometimes does this, but Norwegian uses it very naturally.

What is the basic form of åpner?