Mission—Team—FAQ—Privacy—Terms—Sponsors—Grammar—Typing Course—Donate

© 2026 Elon Automation B.V.

Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Vinen er rød. - The wine is red.

Hardcore Norwegian
/Going bowling with friends
/Vinen er rød.

Vinen er rød.

Word

Vinen er rød.

Meaning

The wine is red.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Norwegian

Lesson

Going bowling with friends

Breakdown of Vinen er rød.

Elon.io is an online learning platform

We have an entire course teaching Norwegian grammar and vocabulary.

Start learning Norwegian now

Questions & Answers about Vinen er rød.

Why is vinen one word instead of two words like the wine?

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

vin = wine
en vin = a wine
vinen = the wine

So vinen is the definite singular form of vin.

What gender is vin?

In Bokmål, vin is a masculine noun.

That gives you:

en vin = a wine
vinen = the wine

For adjective agreement, masculine and feminine nouns usually use the basic adjective form, which is why you get rød here.

Why is it rød and not røde?

Because rød is a predicate adjective here, meaning it comes after er.

After er, Norwegian adjectives agree with gender and number, but not with definiteness. Since vinen is singular and not neuter, the correct form is rød.

Compare:

Vinen er rød.
Et eple er rødt.
Bilene er røde.

If vinen is definite, why doesn’t the adjective also look definite?

That is a very common question. In Norwegian, definiteness affects adjectives mainly when they come before the noun, not when they come after er.

So:

den røde vinen = the red wine
vinen er rød = the wine is red

Even though vinen is definite, the adjective stays rød because it is used after the verb.

When would I say den røde vinen instead?

Use den røde vinen when the adjective comes before the noun.

den røde vinen = the red wine

This is different from:

Vinen er rød. = The wine is red.

So the first is a noun phrase, and the second is a full sentence.

What does er mean, and does it change like am / is / are in English?

Er is the present tense of å være, which means to be.

Unlike English, Norwegian uses er for all persons:

jeg er = I am
du er = you are
han er = he is
vi er = we are

So er can mean am, is, or are, depending on the subject.

Is the word order the same as in English?

Yes, in this sentence it is very similar to English:

Vinen = subject
er = verb
rød = adjective

So it follows the same basic pattern as The wine is red.

How would the adjective change with other nouns?

The adjective rød changes depending on gender and number:

rød = singular non-neuter
rødt = singular neuter
røde = plural

Examples:

Vinen er rød.
Huset er rødt. = The house is red.
Eplene er røde. = The apples are red.

How is Vinen er rød pronounced?

A rough pronunciation guide is:

Vinen ≈ VEE-nen
er ≈ ehr or a weak air, depending on dialect
rød has a vowel sound that English does not really have; it is similar to German ö or French eu

A rough English-style approximation might be VEE-nen ehr rerd, but that is only approximate. Dialect differences are normal in Norwegian.

Your questions are stored by us to improve Elon.io