Questions & Answers about Spareslaget kan gi en spare.
Why is spareslaget written as one word?
Because Norwegian normally writes compound nouns as a single word.
Here, spare + slag become spareslag.
That is very common in Norwegian:
- fotballkamp = football match
- sommerferie = summer vacation
- spareslag = spare shot / spare throw
Then the sentence uses the definite form spareslaget, meaning the spare shot.
What does the ending -et in spareslaget mean?
The ending -et marks the definite singular form of a neuter noun.
The main noun inside the compound is slag, and slag is neuter:
- et slag = a shot / a hit
- slaget = the shot / the hit
Because slag is the head of the compound, the whole compound follows the same pattern:
- et spareslag = a spare shot
- spareslaget = the spare shot
So -et here works like the in English.
Why is kan used here?