Jeg ser en stor by.

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Breakdown of Jeg ser en stor by.

• en: a
• stor: big
• se: to see
• by: the city

Questions & Answers about Jeg ser en stor by.

Why is the pronoun Jeg used at the start of the sentence?

In Norwegian, Jeg is the subject pronoun for "I." Sentences typically start with the subject, just like in English, so Jeg naturally comes first.

Why is the verb ser used instead of a different form?

Ser is the present tense form of the verb å se ("to see"). Norwegian uses the same verb form for both simple present ("I see") and present progressive ("I am seeing") in English, so ser covers both meanings.

Why does the sentence use the article en before stor by?

By ("city") is generally treated as a masculine noun in Norwegian Bokmål, so it takes the indefinite article en. This matches masculine nouns like en bil ("a car"), en stol ("a chair"), and so on.

Why is stor placed before by?

In Norwegian, descriptive adjectives usually come before the noun in a simple indefinite noun phrase. Thus, you get en stor by meaning "a big city."

Is there any difference in pronunciation of by compared to the English word "by"?

Yes. The Norwegian by typically sounds like "bee," with a long y vowel (similar to the vowel in "seen"). It does not sound like the English word "by."