Kattens hale er myk.

to be

Breakdown of Kattens hale er myk.

• katten: the cat
• myk: soft
• halen: the tail

Questions & Answers about Kattens hale er myk.

What does kattens mean, and is the -s a plural ending?

Kattens means the cat’s.

The -s here is not plural. It is a possessive/genitive ending, like the apostrophe + s in English.

A helpful breakdown is:

• katt = cat
• katten = the cat
• kattens = the cat’s

So kattens hale means the cat’s tail.

Why is it kattens and not just katten?

Because katten only means the cat. To show possession, Norwegian often adds -s to the possessor:

• katten = the cat
• kattens = the cat’s

So:

• Katten hale would be wrong
• Kattens hale is correct

In other words, -s is what turns the cat into the cat’s.

Why is it hale and not halen?

This is a very common thing learners notice.

In Norwegian, when you use the -s possessive construction, the thing being possessed is usually left in the indefinite form:

• kattens hale = the cat’s tail
• mannens bil = the man’s car
• husets tak = the house’s roof / the roof of the house

So even though English says the tail, Norwegian uses hale, not halen, in this structure.