Kartvisningen svikter; når det er sagt, bruker vi koordinatene.

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Breakdown of Kartvisningen svikter; når det er sagt, bruker vi koordinatene.

• bruke: to use
• svikte: to fail someone; give out
• koordinatene: the coordinates

Questions & Answers about Kartvisningen svikter; når det er sagt, bruker vi koordinatene.

Why is kartvisningen written as one word?

Because Norwegian normally writes compound nouns as a single word.

So kartvisningen breaks down like this:

• kart = map
• visning = display, view, showing
• -en = the definite ending

So the whole word means something like the map view or the map display.

This is very common in Norwegian. Where English often uses several words, Norwegian often prefers one compound word.

Why does kartvisningen end in -en?

The ending -en marks the noun as definite singular.

• kartvisning = map view / a map display
• kartvisningen = the map view / the map display

So the sentence is talking about a specific map display, not map displays in general.

What does svikter mean here?

Svikter is the present tense of svikte.

In this sentence, it means something like:

• fails
• is failing
• malfunctions
• lets us down

It has a slightly stronger nuance than just doesn’t work.
Kartvisningen svikter suggests that the map display is unreliable or failing in a practical sense.

Is svikter only used for machines and systems?