Kjolen er elegant.

to be

Breakdown of Kjolen er elegant.

• kjolen: the dress
• elegant: elegant

Questions & Answers about Kjolen er elegant.

Why is kjolen translated as the dress and not just dress?

Because Norwegian usually shows definiteness by adding an ending to the noun.

• kjole = a dress
• kjolen = the dress

So the ending -en is doing the job that English often does with the separate word the.

Is kjole masculine, feminine, or neuter?

In standard Bokmål, kjole is normally masculine.

That is why you get:

• en kjole = a dress
• kjolen = the dress

So the definite ending -en matches the noun’s gender here.

What does er mean?

Er means is. It is the present tense of å være, which means to be.

A few forms of å være are:

• er = am / is / are (present)
• var = was / were (past)
• vært = been

So in this sentence, er works exactly like English is.

Why is elegant after er instead of before kjolen?