Pianostemmeren bruker stemmehammeren.

The piano tuner uses the tuning hammer.

Breakdown of Pianostemmeren bruker stemmehammeren.

• bruke: to use
• pianostemmeren: the piano tuner
• stemmehammeren: the tuning hammer

Questions & Answers about Pianostemmeren bruker stemmehammeren.

Why do both nouns end in -en?

In Norwegian, -en is a very common definite ending for singular nouns of the common gender.

So:

• en pianostemmer = a piano tuner
• pianostemmeren = the piano tuner

and

• en stemmehammer = a tuning hammer
• stemmehammeren = the tuning hammer

Unlike English, Norwegian usually puts the at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.

Why is there no separate word for the?

Because Norwegian normally expresses definiteness by attaching it to the noun itself.

So instead of saying something like the piano tuner, Norwegian says pianostemmeren.

This is one of the biggest differences from English. The definite article is usually a suffix:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car

The same pattern is used here.

Are pianostemmeren and stemmehammeren single words on purpose?