Den ytre døren er stengt.

The outer door is closed.

Breakdown of Den ytre døren er stengt.

• være: to be
• døren: the door
• stengt: closed
• den: the

Questions & Answers about Den ytre døren er stengt.

Why does Norwegian use both den and døren here? Isn’t that like saying the the door?

It can feel that way at first, but this is normal Norwegian grammar.

When a noun is definite and also has an adjective in front of it, Norwegian usually uses double definiteness:

• den
  • adjective + noun with definite ending

So:

• døren = the door
• den ytre døren = the outer door

This pattern is very common in Bokmål:

• den store bilen = the big car
• det gamle huset = the old house
• de røde skoene = the red shoes

So den ytre døren is exactly what you should expect.

Why is it den and not det?

Because dør is a common-gender noun in Norwegian.

Its forms are:

• en dør = a door
• døren = the door

For common-gender nouns, the definite article used before an adjective is den.

Compare:

• den ytre døren = common gender
• det ytre vinduet = neuter, because vindu is a neuter noun

So the choice between den and det depends on the gender of the noun.

What exactly does ytre mean?