Platesamleren sammenligner originalpressingen med nyutgivelsen.

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word.

So platesamleren breaks down like this:

• plate = record / disc
• samler = collector
• -en = the definite ending

So platesamleren literally works like record-collector-the, which in natural English is the record collector.

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

In Norwegian, the is often built into the noun as an ending instead of being a separate word.

Here:

• en platesamler = a record collector
• platesamleren = the record collector

The same thing happens with the other nouns in the sentence:

• en originalpressing → originalpressingen
• en nyutgivelse → nyutgivelsen

So Norwegian often expresses definiteness with a suffix, not a separate article.

Sammenligner is the present tense of å sammenligne, meaning to compare.

So:

• å sammenligne = to compare
• sammenligner = compares / is comparing

In Norwegian, the present tense is very often made by adding -r to the infinitive:

• å snakke → snakker
• å kjøpe → kjøper
• å sammenligne → sammenligner

This sentence is therefore in the present tense.

Because the normal Norwegian pattern is:

å sammenligne noe med noe

That means to compare something with something.

So in the sentence:

• originalpressingen = the original pressing
• med nyutgivelsen = with the reissue

This works very much like English compare X with Y. In everyday Norwegian, med is the standard preposition here.

They are both definite singular nouns.

• en originalpressing = an original pressing

• originalpressingen = the original pressing

• en nyutgivelse = a reissue / new release
• nyutgivelsen = the reissue

So the ending -en here marks definiteness, just like the in English.

The sentence is talking about specific items, not just any original pressing and any reissue.

Yes. If you wanted to talk about non-specific items, you could say:

Platesamleren sammenligner en originalpressing med en nyutgivelse.

That means the collector is comparing an original pressing with a reissue, without pointing to particular known ones.

So the difference is:

• originalpressingen / nyutgivelsen = specific, definite
• en originalpressing / en nyutgivelse = non-specific, indefinite

Yes. This is standard Norwegian main-clause word order:

Subject + verb + object + prepositional phrase

Here that gives:

• Platesamleren = subject
• sammenligner = verb
• originalpressingen = object
• med nyutgivelsen = prepositional phrase

So the structure is very straightforward.

A useful extra point: Norwegian main clauses follow the verb-second rule. That means if you move another element to the front, the verb still stays in second position:

• I dag sammenligner platesamleren originalpressingen med nyutgivelsen.

So even when the sentence begins differently, the finite verb still comes second.

As a normal Norwegian noun, it should be written as one word: originalpressingen.

That is because originalpressing is a compound noun:

• original
  • pressing

Then the definite ending -en is added:

• originalpressing → originalpressingen

This is especially common in specialized vocabulary, including music and record-collecting language. Norwegian strongly prefers compounds to be written together.

Nyutgivelsen is also a compound-based noun.

You can think of it like this:

• ny = new
• utgivelse = release / publication
• -n as part of the definite form -en

So:

• nyutgivelse = reissue / new release
• nyutgivelsen = the reissue

In this context, it refers to a later release of the same music, often a reissued edition.

Yes, plate can mean more than one thing in Norwegian.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• a plate as in a dish
• a record or disc, especially in music contexts

In this sentence, the surrounding words make the meaning clear:

• originalpressingen
• nyutgivelsen

Those are terms from record collecting, so platesamleren is clearly a record collector, not someone who collects dinner plates.