Helgen er kort, men vi har tid.

to be

Breakdown of Helgen er kort, men vi har tid.

• ha: to have
• vi: we
• kort: short
• men: but
• helgen: the weekend
• tid: the time

Questions & Answers about Helgen er kort, men vi har tid.

Why do we say helgen instead of helg?

In Norwegian, adding -en to helg makes it the definite form, so helg becomes helgen (meaning "the weekend" rather than just "a weekend"). The noun helg ("weekend") is masculine, so -en is the standard masculine definite ending.

How does kort work here?

Kort is an adjective meaning "short." It describes helgen, and since helgen is singular and definite, kort remains in its base form (no special endings are needed for singular indefinite or definite masculine/feminine nouns).

Why is it vi har tid instead of something like vi har tiden?

Tid ("time") in this sentence is being used in a more general or indefinite sense. If you said tiden, that would mean "the specific time," but here the intention is to say that "we have (enough) time," hence the indefinite form tid.

Can you explain the word order?

The word order is quite straightforward: Helgen er kort (Subject + Verb + Adjective), men (conjunction) vi har tid (Subject + Verb + Object). Norwegian typically follows a Subject–Verb–Object structure in basic statements, just like English. The comma before men is used in writing to separate the independent clauses.