Drinken står på bordet.

Because -en is the common definite ending for many masculine nouns in Norwegian Bokmål.

• en drink = a drink
• drinken = the drink

So instead of using a separate word like the, Norwegian often puts definiteness at the end of the noun.

That is because the nouns have different grammatical genders.

• en drink → drinken
• et bord → bordet

In Bokmål, nouns can be masculine, feminine, or neuter.
Here:

• drink is masculine
• bord is neuter

A very common pattern is:

• masculine definite singular: -en
• neuter definite singular: -et

So bordet means the table.

Norwegian often uses position verbs where English would often just use is.

Here, står is the present tense of stå, meaning stand. Norwegian commonly says an object stands, lies, or sits, depending on how it is positioned.

So:

• Drinken står på bordet. literally: The drink stands on the table.

In natural English, you would usually say The drink is on the table, but Norwegian prefers står here because a glass, bottle, or cup is thought of as standing upright on a surface.

The base form is stå, which means to stand.

A few useful forms are:

• å stå = to stand
• står = stands / is standing
• stod = stood / was standing
• har stått = has stood / has been standing

In this sentence, står is present tense.

No. In Norwegian, stå is used much more broadly than English stand.

It can be used for many objects that are upright or placed on a surface, for example:

• Glasset står på bordet. = The glass is on the table.
• Flasken står i kjøleskapet. = The bottle is in the fridge.

So står does not mean the drink has legs and is literally standing like a person. It is just the normal Norwegian way to describe the position of many objects.

Here, på means on.

So:

• på bordet = on the table

På is a very common preposition, but like prepositions in any language, it can have several meanings depending on context. In this sentence, it is the straightforward physical meaning: something is on top of a surface.

Yes. Drink exists in Norwegian too, but it usually refers more specifically to an alcoholic mixed drink or cocktail.

That is slightly different from the broader English word drink, which can mean almost any beverage.

So in Norwegian:

• en drink often suggests a cocktail or mixed alcoholic drink
• en drikk is not the usual everyday word in the same way
• more common general words are drikke or the name of the specific beverage, like kaffe, te, øl, juice

So a learner might notice that drink in Norwegian is a borrowed word with a somewhat narrower use.

Sometimes, yes, but it would usually mean something slightly different.

• drinken = the drink in the sense of a cocktail / mixed drink
• drikken comes from drikk, which is less common in everyday speech and may sound more formal, abstract, or context-dependent

In many situations, Norwegians would more naturally name the actual beverage:

• Ølen står på bordet. = The beer is on the table.
• Kaffen står på bordet. = The coffee is on the table.

So drinken is fine if you specifically mean a cocktail or mixed drink.

This is the normal Norwegian word order for a basic statement:

subject + verb + other information

So:

• Drinken = subject
• står = verb
• på bordet = prepositional phrase

This is very similar to English word order:

• The drink is on the table.

Yes. That is also correct.

When you move på bordet to the front, Norwegian still keeps the verb in second position. This is the famous V2 word order rule.

So:

• Drinken står på bordet.
• På bordet står drinken.

Both are grammatical, but the second version puts more emphasis on på bordet.

No separate word is needed here, because Norwegian usually builds definiteness into the noun itself.

So instead of:

• the drink
• the table

Norwegian says:

• drinken
• bordet

That is one of the biggest differences from English. The definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun.

That would be:

En drink står på bordet.

Now the noun is indefinite:

• en drink = a drink
• bordet = the table

So only drink changes here.

This is standard Bokmål.

In Nynorsk, you would be more likely to see something like:

Drinken står på bordet.

That particular sentence can actually look the same, depending on word choice, but the definite forms and vocabulary can differ in other sentences. For a learner, it is safest to treat this as a normal Bokmål sentence unless told otherwise.