Belønningen er liten.

to be

Breakdown of Belønningen er liten.

• liten: small
• belønningen: the reward

Questions & Answers about Belønningen er liten.

Why does belønningen end in -en?

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

• belønning = reward
• belønningen = the reward

So the -en ending is doing the job that the does in English.

A useful extra point: if you put an adjective before the noun, Norwegian often uses both a separate article and the ending:

• den lille belønningen = the small reward

That is very normal in Norwegian.

Why is there no separate word for the in this sentence?

In this sentence, the is already built into belønningen.

Norwegian often expresses definiteness with a suffix:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car

So Belønningen er liten literally works like Reward-the is small.

English learners often expect a separate word like the, but in many Norwegian sentences you do not need one.

Why is the adjective liten and not lite, lille, or små?