Brevet er mystisk.

to be

Breakdown of Brevet er mystisk.

• brevet: the letter
• mystisk: mysterious

Questions & Answers about Brevet er mystisk.

Why does brev become brevet here?

Because brev is the indefinite form, meaning a letter, and brevet is the definite form, meaning the letter.

The noun brev is a neuter noun, so its forms are:

• et brev = a letter
• brevet = the letter

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun, not written as a separate word the way English uses the.

Why is there no separate word for the?

In Norwegian, the is often built into the noun itself as an ending.

So:

• et brev = a letter
• brevet = the letter

That is why Brevet already includes the idea of the.

A separate article can appear when there is an adjective directly before the noun:

• det mystiske brevet = the mysterious letter

So Norwegian can use both a separate article and a noun ending, depending on the structure.

What does er mean?

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

So:

• å være = to be
• er = am / is / are, depending on context

In this sentence, er means is.