Vi har en stor bil.

to have

Breakdown of Vi har en stor bil.

• en: a
• stor: big
• vi: we
• bil: the car

Questions & Answers about Vi har en stor bil.

Why does the sentence use en and not et or ei?

Norwegian has three grammatical genders: masculine (en), feminine (ei), and neuter (et). The word bil (car) is a masculine noun, so you use en in front of it.

Should the adjective stor come before or after the noun bil?

In Norwegian, descriptive adjectives typically come before the noun they modify. So you say en stor bil rather than en bil stor.

Does stor change depending on whether the noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter?

In the indefinite singular form, stor stays the same for both masculine and feminine (e.g., en stor bil, ei stor bok). However, for neuter nouns, you add a t (e.g., et stort hus).

What is the function of har in this sentence?

Har is the present tense form of the verb å ha (to have). It indicates possession, so vi har en stor bil means that “we own/possess a big car.”

Is there a specific tone or emphasis if I change the word order?

Typically, the word order wouldn’t be changed in a simple statement like this. If you were to say something like En stor bil har vi, it would suggest extra emphasis on en stor bil, but it’s not the usual way to phrase it in everyday speech.