Barnet tegner dragen.

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun.

• et barn = a child
• barnet = the child
• en drage = a dragon
• dragen = the dragon

So Norwegian often uses an ending where English uses a separate word like the.

A useful extra note: when there is an adjective, Norwegian often uses both a separate article and the noun ending:

• det lille barnet = the little child
• den store dragen = the big dragon

Because the nouns belong to different grammatical genders.

• barn is a neuter noun, so it is an et-word:
  • et barn
  • barnet
• drage is an en-word:
  • en drage
  • dragen

So the definite ending depends on the noun:

• many en-words take -en
• et-words take -et

Tegner is the present tense of å tegne, which means to draw.

So:

• å tegne = to draw
• tegner = draws / is drawing

In this sentence, tegner is the finite verb of the clause.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Norwegian often uses the simple present where English might use either:

• draws
• is drawing

So Barnet tegner dragen can match either The child draws the dragon or The child is drawing the dragon, depending on the situation.

If Norwegian speakers want to strongly emphasize that something is in progress right now, they can say something like:

• Barnet holder på å tegne dragen = The child is in the middle of drawing the dragon

Because å is the infinitive marker, like English to.

• å tegne = to draw
• tegner = draws / is drawing

In a normal sentence, you need a finite verb, not an infinitive. That is why the sentence uses tegner, not å tegne.

Compare:

• Barnet tegner dragen. = The child draws / is drawing the dragon.
• Barnet liker å tegne drager. = The child likes to draw dragons.

In the second example, å tegne is an infinitive after liker.

No. Norwegian verbs do not change for person in the present tense.

You say:

• jeg tegner = I draw / am drawing
• du tegner = you draw / are drawing
• barnet tegner = the child draws / is drawing
• vi tegner = we draw / are drawing

This is simpler than English, where you have I draw but he/she draws.

Because of the word order.

In a normal Norwegian statement, the basic pattern is:

subject + verb + object

So in:

Barnet tegner dragen

• barnet = subject
• tegner = verb
• dragen = object

That means the child is doing the action, and the dragon is receiving the action.

If you switch the nouns, the meaning changes:

• Dragen tegner barnet. = The dragon draws the child.

Yes, this is the normal word order for a simple statement.

The sentence follows:

subject + verb + object

However, Norwegian main clauses also follow the V2 rule, which means the finite verb usually stays in second position.

For example:

• I dag tegner barnet dragen. = Today the child is drawing the dragon.
• Nå tegner barnet dragen. = Now the child is drawing the dragon.

Notice that when I dag or Nå comes first, tegner still stays in second place.

It would be:

Et barn tegner en drage.

That means A child draws / is drawing a dragon.

So the contrast is:

• et barn = a child
• barnet = the child
• en drage = a dragon
• dragen = the dragon

This is a very important distinction in Norwegian, because definiteness is built directly into the noun form.

Here, barnet is singular definite: the child.

That can be confusing because the base form barn is also used as a plural form in Norwegian.

Common forms are:

• et barn = a child
• barnet = the child
• barn = children
• barna or barnene = the children

So in this sentence, barnet definitely means one specific child, not several children.