Været er elendig.

to be

Breakdown of Været er elendig.

• været: the weather
• elendig: terrible; miserable

Questions & Answers about Været er elendig.

What form is været?

Været is the definite singular form of vær.

• vær = weather
• været = the weather

So the sentence is literally The weather is awful.

In Norwegian, it is very normal to use the definite form when talking about the current weather in a general way.

Where is the word for the?

It is built into the noun.

Norwegian often puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word in front:

• et hus = a house
• huset = the house

The same thing happens here:

• vær = weather
• vær-et = the weather

So været already includes the meaning of the.

What gender is vær, and why does that matter?