Skipet forlater havnen.

The ship leaves the harbour.

Breakdown of Skipet forlater havnen.

• forlate: to leave
• havnen: the harbour
• skipet: the ship

Questions & Answers about Skipet forlater havnen.

Why is it skipet and not skip?

Because -et is the definite article attached to the noun.

• skip = ship / a ship
• skipet = the ship

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like the in English.

Why is it havnen and not havn?

For the same reason: -en makes the noun definite.

• havn = harbor / a harbor
• havnen = the harbor

So both nouns in the sentence are definite: the ship and the harbor.

Why do the definite endings look different: -et in skipet but -en in havnen?

Because the nouns belong to different grammatical genders.

In Bokmål, nouns can be:

• common gender (often taking -en in the definite singular)
• neuter (often taking -et in the definite singular)

Here:

• et skip → skipet
• en havn → havnen

So the ending changes depending on the noun’s gender.

What form is forlater?