Solen er varm.

to be

Breakdown of Solen er varm.

• varm: warm
• solen: the sun

Questions & Answers about Solen er varm.

Why is it solen and not just sol?

Because solen is the definite singular form of sol.

• sol = sun / a sun
• solen = the sun

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun as a suffix, instead of being a separate word like English the.

Why isn’t there a separate word for the, like in English?

In Norwegian, the is often built into the noun itself.

So instead of:

• English: the sun
• Norwegian: solen

This is very common in Scandinavian languages. The ending -en here marks the noun as definite.

A separate determiner can appear in some other structures, for example:

• den varme solen = the warm sun

But in Solen er varm, the definiteness is already shown by the ending -en.

Why is the verb er used here?