Skydekket og lysforurensningen skjuler horisonten.

Skydekket means the cloud cover or the overcast sky.

It is built from:

• sky = cloud
• dekke = cover, layer, covering

So skydekke is a noun meaning cloud cover, and skydekket is the definite form: the cloud cover.

A learner might guess it has something to do with sky in English, but Norwegian sky means cloud, not sky. The Norwegian word for sky is himmel.

The ending -et shows that the noun is in the definite form.

In Norwegian, instead of usually putting a separate word like the before the noun, you often add the definiteness to the end of the noun itself.

Here:

• et skydekke = a cloud cover
• skydekket = the cloud cover

So -et here works like English the.

Lysforurensningen means the light pollution.

It is a compound noun:

• lys = light
• forurensning = pollution

So:

• lysforurensning = light pollution
• lysforurensningen = the light pollution

Compound nouns are very common in Norwegian, just as they are in English.

The ending -en marks the noun as definite: the light pollution.

Compare:

• en lysforurensning = a light pollution
  (grammatically possible, though less common in practice)
• lysforurensningen = the light pollution

So just like skydekket, this noun has definiteness added to the end.

Because the sentence is talking about specific things in a general scene: the cloud cover and the light pollution.

In Norwegian, definite forms are often used where English might also use the:

• Skydekket = the cloud cover
• lysforurensningen = the light pollution
• horisonten = the horizon

This gives the sentence a natural, complete feel, as if we are talking about the visible conditions in a particular situation.

Skjuler means hide, hides, or is hiding, depending on context.

It comes from the infinitive å skjule = to hide / conceal.

Here:

• skjuler = hide / are hiding

Because the subject is skydekket og lysforurensningen (the cloud cover and the light pollution), English translates it naturally as hide.

Because Norwegian verbs do not change for singular and plural the way English verbs sometimes do.

So:

• jeg skjuler = I hide
• du skjuler = you hide
• han skjuler = he hides
• vi skjuler = we hide
• de skjuler = they hide

The verb form stays the same in the present tense.

That is why skydekket og lysforurensningen skjuler horisonten uses skjuler, even though there are two things doing the action.

Horisonten means the horizon.

Base form:

• en horisont = a horizon

Definite form:

• horisonten = the horizon

Again, Norwegian usually adds definiteness to the end of the noun rather than using a separate word like the.

Yes, it is completely normal.

The sentence follows the basic Norwegian pattern:

Subject + verb + object

• Skydekket og lysforurensningen = subject
• skjuler = verb
• horisonten = object

So it is a very standard sentence structure.

Because Norwegian usually expresses the by attaching it to the noun.

For example:

• horisont = horizon
• horisonten = the horizon

This is one of the biggest differences from English. Instead of writing the horizon, Norwegian often just says horisonten.

Yes. Norwegian very often combines nouns into a single word.

So:

• sky + dekke becomes skydekke
• lys + forurensning becomes lysforurensning

This is very normal and important to get used to. English sometimes writes similar ideas as two words, but Norwegian often prefers one compound word.

You could, but it would change the nuance.

• skydekket = the cloud cover
  This refers to the overall layer or amount of cloud in the sky.
• skyene = the clouds
  This refers more directly to the clouds themselves.

So:

• Skydekket skjuler horisonten = The cloud cover hides the horizon
• Skyene skjuler horisonten = The clouds hide the horizon

Both can work, but skydekket sounds a bit more like weather description.

A rough pronunciation guide might be:

SKY-dek-ke og LEES-for-oo-rens-ning-en SHOO-ler ho-rih-SON-ten

A few important sounds:

• y in sky and lys is not like English y. It is a rounded vowel that English does not really have.
• skj in skjuler is pronounced like a soft sh sound.
• The stress is usually on the first syllable of these words:
  • SKYdekket
  • LYSforurensningen
  • SHJUler
  • horiSONten

If you want, I can also give you a more precise IPA-style pronunciation.

A very literal breakdown is:

• Skydekket = the cloud cover
• og = and
• lysforurensningen = the light pollution
• skjuler = hide / hides
• horisonten = the horizon

So literally:

The cloud cover and the light pollution hide the horizon.

This sentence is in Bokmål.

The forms skydekket, lysforurensningen, skjuler, and horisonten are all completely normal in Bokmål.

A Nynorsk version might look different in some words or endings, depending on style.