Endringen er permanent.

Endringen is the noun endring with the definite ending -en attached.

• endring = change
• endringen = the change

So Norwegian often builds the onto the end of the noun instead of using a separate word in front.

Because Norwegian usually marks definiteness with a suffix on the noun.

Compare:

• en endring = a change
• endringen = the change

So Endringen er permanent literally works like change-the is permanent, even though in natural English we say The change is permanent.

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

A few forms:

• å være = to be
• er = is / am / are in the present tense, depending on context

So in this sentence:

• Endringen = the change
• er = is
• permanent = permanent

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

subject + verb + complement

So:

• Endringen = subject
• er = verb
• permanent = adjective describing the subject

It works very much like English The change is permanent.

Here, permanent is a predicate adjective, meaning it comes after er and describes the subject.

In this sentence, singular permanent is correct.

Compare:

• Endringen er permanent = The change is permanent
• Endringene er permanente = The changes are permanent

So permanente would be used in the plural here, not with singular endringen.

It is a real Norwegian word, even though it looks almost identical to English. It is a common international-style word and is completely normal in Norwegian.

Norwegian also has other words with similar meaning depending on context, such as varig, but permanent is perfectly natural.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

EN-dring-en er per-ma-NENT

A few helpful points:

• In endringen, the ng is pronounced like the ng in sing
• The r sound in Norwegian is different from English and depends on dialect
• er is often pronounced quite lightly in normal speech
• The stress in permanent is usually near the end: permaNENT

If you want a very rough English-style approximation, you could think:

EN-dring-en air per-ma-NENT

But that is only approximate.

Yes. In Bokmål, you may come across both styles.

Common forms include:

• en endring
• endringen

You may also see a feminine-style form:

• ei endring
• endringa

So Endringen er permanent is standard and natural, but Endringa er permanent can also occur depending on the writer’s style.

Yes. Then it becomes an attributive adjective:

• en permanent endring = a permanent change
• den permanente endringen = the permanent change

So:

• Endringen er permanent describes the change after the verb
• en permanent endring describes the noun directly before it

Both are correct, but the structure is different.

It looks most like Bokmål, mainly because of endringen.

In Nynorsk, you would more likely see:

• Endringa er permanent

The rest of the sentence is very similar, but the noun form gives the strongest clue.

The indefinite singular form is:

• en endring = a change

So the pattern is:

• en endring = a change
• endringen = the change

This is a very useful pattern to learn, because many Norwegian nouns form the definite singular in the same basic way.