Flasken er tom.

Flasken means the bottle.

The base noun is flaske, which means bottle. The ending -en makes it definite, so instead of saying a separate word like English the, Norwegian usually adds the definite ending to the noun itself.

So:

• en flaske = a bottle
• flasken = the bottle

This is a very common pattern in Norwegian.

In Norwegian, the is often attached to the end of the noun instead of standing alone before it.

That is why English the bottle becomes flasken, not a separate word plus noun.

Compare:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car

So in Flasken er tom, the definiteness is already built into flasken.

Er means is.

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

Examples:

• Jeg er trøtt = I am tired
• Han er hjemme = He is at home
• Flasken er tom = The bottle is empty

Unlike in English, Norwegian verbs do not change depending on the subject, so er stays the same with I, you, he, we, and so on.

This is a very common question, because Norwegian adjectives change form depending on the noun.

Here, flaske is usually treated as a common-gender noun, so the adjective in this sentence is tom.

Compare:

• en tom flaske = an empty bottle
• flasken er tom = the bottle is empty

You often see tomt with neuter nouns:

• et tomt glass = an empty glass
• glasset er tomt = the glass is empty

So tom matches the gender/form of flaske here.

Yes. Like many Norwegian adjectives, tom changes depending on gender, number, and whether the noun is definite.

A simple overview:

• en tom flaske = common gender singular
• et tomt glass = neuter singular
• tomme flasker = plural
• den tomme flasken = definite with article + adjective

In the sentence Flasken er tom, the adjective comes after the verb er, and in this case it appears as tom.

Yes. In Bokmål, flaske is traditionally a feminine noun, but many speakers also use the common-gender pattern.

So you may see both:

• flaska = the bottle
• flasken = the bottle

Both can be correct in Bokmål, depending on style and personal preference.

That means these are both possible:

• Flaska er tom
• Flasken er tom

Learners often meet -en forms very frequently, because many speakers and textbooks use the common-gender pattern a lot.

The word order is:

subject + verb + adjective/complement

So:

• Flasken = subject
• er = verb
• tom = complement describing the subject

This is very similar to English:

• The bottle
  • is
    • empty

So the sentence structure is straightforward for English speakers.

You usually make a yes/no question by putting the verb first:

• Er flasken tom? = Is the bottle empty?

This is a very common pattern in Norwegian.

Compare:

• Flasken er tom. = statement
• Er flasken tom? = question

You add ikke, which means not:

• Flasken er ikke tom.

The usual position is after the verb:

• er ikke

This is another very common Norwegian pattern.

A rough guide is FLAHS-ken.

A few helpful points:

• a in flaske is broader than the English a in cat
• sk before e is pronounced like sh
• so flaske sounds roughly like FLAH-sheh
• flasken sounds roughly like FLAHS-ken or FLAH-shken, depending on speaker and dialect

Pronunciation varies somewhat by dialect, so exact sounds can differ.

Flasken er tom is standard and natural in Bokmål.

In Nynorsk, you are more likely to see:

• Flaska er tom.

The meaning is the same. The main difference here is the definite form of the noun.

Yes. Tom usually means empty, but it can also be used in related ways, like vacant or bare, depending on context.

Examples:

• et tomt rom = an empty room
• en tom gate = an empty street
• flasken er tom = the bottle is empty

So the core idea is that something has nothing in it, or nothing present where you expect something.

Because it shows several important Norwegian patterns in one short sentence:

• a noun in the definite form: flasken
• the present tense of to be: er
• an adjective describing the subject: tom

It is a very compact example of how Norwegian often works: noun + be-verb + adjective.

Once you understand this sentence, you can make many similar ones:

• Døren er åpen = The door is open
• Boka er ny = The book is new
• Kaffen er kald = The coffee is cold