Skredderen skal legge opp kjolen.

Because -en is the definite article for many masculine nouns in Norwegian.

• en skredder = a tailor
• skredderen = the tailor

In this sentence, it is a specific tailor, so Norwegian uses the definite form directly on the noun instead of a separate word like English the.

For the same reason: kjolen means the dress.

• en kjole = a dress
• kjolen = the dress

Norwegian often adds the definite article as a suffix:

• bil → bilen
• bok → boka / boken
• kjole → kjolen

Skal usually means something like will, is going to, is supposed to, or shall, depending on context.

In Skredderen skal legge opp kjolen, it often suggests:

• a plan
• an arrangement
• something that is expected to happen

So it is not always a simple future tense marker. It can carry a sense of intention or obligation.

After modal verbs in Norwegian, you normally use the bare infinitive without å.

Common modal verbs include:

• skal
• vil
• kan
• må
• bør

So you say:

• Jeg skal spise
• Hun kan komme
• Vi må dra

Not:

• Jeg skal å spise

That is different from English, where we often use to in infinitives.

Legge opp is a verb phrase, and here it means to hem or to shorten by turning up the fabric, especially with clothes.

So with a dress, legge opp kjolen means the tailor will adjust the length, usually by making the hem shorter.

This is a good example of how Norwegian often uses verb + particle combinations that work a bit like English phrasal verbs.

It is best understood as a verb phrase made of:

• legge = lay / put
• opp = a particle that changes the meaning

Together, legge opp has a special meaning that is not just the sum of the two parts. In clothing contexts, it means to hem / take up.

In some sentence patterns, the two parts can stay together, but in others they may be separated. That is normal in Norwegian.

This is standard Norwegian main-clause word order:

• Skredderen = subject
• skal = finite verb
• legge opp kjolen = rest of the verb phrase and object

So the pattern is basically:

Subject + finite verb + infinitive + object

That is very common in simple statements.

Yes, sometimes the particle can appear in a slightly different position, especially with objects.

You may see both:

• legge opp kjolen
• legge kjolen opp

But with this kind of sentence, legge opp kjolen is very natural.

Learners should be aware that Norwegian particles can sometimes move, but the most common phrasing is often the safest one to copy first.

You could, but it sounds more marked and stylistically different. It gives special focus to kjolen.

The neutral sentence is:

• Skredderen skal legge opp kjolen.

If you move elements around, Norwegian still follows the verb-second rule in main clauses, so word order changes have consequences.

For everyday use, the original sentence is the natural basic version.

Traditionally, skredder is masculine: en skredder.

In modern Norwegian, many job titles can refer to people of any gender even if the noun historically belongs to one grammatical gender category. So skredderen can refer to a tailor regardless of whether the person is male or female, depending on context.

The grammatical gender of the noun does not always tell you the real-life gender of the person.

A natural past version would be:

Skredderen skulle legge opp kjolen.

This can mean:

• The tailor was going to hem the dress
• The tailor was supposed to hem the dress

If you want to say the action was completed, you might say something like:

Skredderen la opp kjolen.

That means the tailor actually hemmed the dress.

The kj sound in many dialects is a soft sound that does not exist in standard English. It is traditionally pronounced something like a voiceless palatal fricative.

For many learners, this is one of the harder Norwegian sounds.

A few useful points:

• kjolen sounds roughly like HYOO-len in older or more careful pronunciation, though that is only an approximation.
• In many modern dialects, especially among younger speakers, kj may sound closer to sj.
• Exact pronunciation varies by dialect.

If you are a beginner, the most important thing is recognizing kjolen as the definite form of kjole.