Vedlikeholdsvarselet gjelder hovedbørsten.

Because Norwegian very often makes compound nouns by joining words together into a single word.

Here, vedlikeholdsvarselet is built from:

• vedlikehold = maintenance
• varsel = warning / alert
• -et = the definite ending

So instead of writing something like maintenance warning as two separate words, Norwegian normally combines them into one noun: vedlikeholdsvarsel. Then the definite form becomes vedlikeholdsvarselet = the maintenance warning / alert.

This is extremely common in Norwegian.

The -s- is a very common linking element in Norwegian compounds.

So:

• vedlikehold
  • varsel becomes
• vedlikeholdsvarsel

That -s- does not usually have a separate meaning by itself. It just helps connect the parts of the compound in a natural way. English learners often notice this because English usually does not do the same thing.

You will see this in many other Norwegian compounds too.

The ending -et marks the noun as definite singular for a neuter noun.

The base noun is:

• et varsel = a warning / an alert

Definite form:

• varslet = the warning / the alert

And in the compound:

• et vedlikeholdsvarsel = a maintenance warning
• vedlikeholdsvarselet = the maintenance warning

So Norwegian often puts the at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English does.

Because hovedbørste is a common-gender noun in Norwegian, and the definite singular ending is -en.

So:

• en hovedbørste = a main brush
• hovedbørsten = the main brush

Again, Norwegian usually adds definiteness as an ending on the noun instead of using a separate word like the.

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the noun as a suffix.

So:

• varselet = the alert
• hovedbørsten = the main brush

That means a full sentence can contain definite nouns without any separate word corresponding to English the.

This is one of the biggest structural differences between English and Norwegian nouns.

Gjelder is the present tense of the verb å gjelde.

So:

• å gjelde = to concern / to apply to / to refer to
• gjelder = concerns / applies to / refers to

In this sentence, gjelder links the subject and what it concerns:

• Vedlikeholdsvarselet gjelder hovedbørsten.

A natural way to understand it is:

• The maintenance alert applies to the main brush or
• The maintenance alert concerns the main brush

Because å gjelde can take its object directly in Norwegian.

So Norwegian says:

• gjelder hovedbørsten

where English often uses:

• applies to the main brush
• concerns the main brush

This is normal with å gjelde. English and Norwegian do not always use the same sentence pattern, even when the meaning is equivalent.

This sentence uses normal Norwegian main clause word order:

• Vedlikeholdsvarselet = subject
• gjelder = verb
• hovedbørsten = object/complement

So the pattern is basically:

• Subject + verb + object

That is the standard order in a simple statement.

If you moved another element to the front, Norwegian would still keep the verb in second position because of the V2 rule, but in this sentence nothing unusual is happening.

In Norwegian compounds, the last part is usually the main noun.

So in:

• vedlikeholdsvarsel

the main noun is:

• varsel = alert / warning

The first part, vedlikeholds-, tells you what kind of alert it is:

• a maintenance alert

The same applies to:

• hovedbørste

The main noun is:

• børste = brush

And hoved- tells you what kind of brush:

• the main brush

This last element is the head rule is very useful for understanding long Norwegian words.

Not really in normal usage. Hoved- often means main, primary, or principal, not literally something related to a human head.

So:

• hovedbørste = main brush

This is common in Norwegian:

• hoveddør = main door
• hovedvei = main road
• hovedrolle = main role

So when you see hoved-, think main/principal first.

The letter ø is a vowel sound that does not exist in standard English.

A rough guide:

• it is somewhat similar to the vowel in French peur or German schön
• your lips are rounded, but the tongue is more forward than for English o

So børste is not pronounced like English borst or burst.

You do not need perfect pronunciation immediately, but it is important to notice that ø is its own vowel and can change meaning:

• o, ø, and å are different vowels in Norwegian

This is Bokmål.

A few clues are:

• vedlikeholdsvarselet
• gjelder
• hovedbørsten

In Nynorsk, some wording or forms might be different. For a learner, it is helpful to know that this sentence is perfectly normal standard Bokmål.