Staten beskytter borgeren.

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

• stat = state / a state

• staten = the state

• borger = citizen / a citizen
• borgeren = the citizen

So the ending -en here means the.

In Norwegian, the definite article is often attached directly to the noun as a suffix.

So instead of saying:

• the state
• the citizen

Norwegian says:

• stat-en
• borger-en

This is one of the biggest differences from English. A separate article such as den is used in some other structures, especially with adjectives, but not in this simple sentence.

Beskytter is the present tense of the verb å beskytte, meaning to protect.

So:

• å beskytte = to protect
• beskytter = protects / is protecting, depending on context

Norwegian present tense is much simpler than English: the verb does not change for different persons.

For example:

• jeg beskytter = I protect
• du beskytter = you protect
• staten beskytter = the state protects

The verb form stays the same.

Yes. This sentence uses the normal subject–verb–object order:

• Staten = subject
• beskytter = verb
• borgeren = object

So it works just like:

• The state protects the citizen

This is the most basic and common Norwegian sentence pattern.

You know mainly from the word order.

In Staten beskytter borgeren:

• Staten comes before the verb, so it is the subject
• borgeren comes after the verb, so it is the object

Unlike some languages, Norwegian does not mark this very clearly with special noun endings in sentences like this, so word order is very important.

No, common nouns are not normally capitalized in Norwegian.

Staten is capitalized here only because it is the first word of the sentence.

If it came in the middle of a sentence, it would normally be written staten, not Staten.

The dictionary forms are usually the indefinite singular forms:

• stat = state
• borger = citizen

In dictionaries, Norwegian nouns are often listed with their gender too. For example:

• en stat
• en borger

That helps explain why the definite singular form becomes -en:

• en stat → staten
• en borger → borgeren

Yes. Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender.

Both stat and borger are normally common gender nouns in Bokmål, so their singular forms are:

• en stat / staten
• en borger / borgeren

For a learner, the important pattern is:

• en noun → often definite form in -en

Grammatically, borgeren is definitely the citizen because of the definite ending -en.

However, in context, Norwegian sometimes uses the definite form in a more general way than English does. So depending on the wider context, it could refer to:

• one specific citizen, or
• the citizen as a general representative of citizens

But the form itself is definitely definite, not a citizen.

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

• beskytter ≈ beh-SHYT-ter

A few useful notes:

• y is a Norwegian vowel that does not exist in normal English pronunciation, so it may take practice
• the tt makes the consonant sound short and clear
• the final -er is pronounced, but not as strongly as in many English accents

The exact pronunciation varies a little by dialect, but that approximation is a good start.

Yes, it could be.

In Bokmål, the sentence is:

• Staten beskytter borgeren.

In Nynorsk, a more natural version might be:

• Staten vernar borgaren.

That said, your original sentence is perfectly normal Bokmål, which is the written standard most learners meet first.