Hunden har en lang hale.

The dog has a long tail.

Breakdown of Hunden har en lang hale.

• ha: to have
• en: a
• hunden: the dog
• lang: long

Questions & Answers about Hunden har en lang hale.

Why does hund become hunden?

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

• hund = dog
• hunden = the dog

So -en here means the. This is very common in Norwegian:

• bok = book
• boken / boka = the book

In this sentence, hunden is the subject, so it means the dog.

Why is there en before lang hale?

Here, en is the indefinite article, meaning a.

• en hale = a tail
• halen = the tail

So the sentence has:

• hunden = the dog
• en lang hale = a long tail

English uses separate words for both the and a, but Norwegian often uses:

• a separate word for a/an: en / ei / et
• an ending for the: -en / -a / -et

Is en the same as the English word one?