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Questions & Answers about Filmen er imponerende.
What role does the word er play in this sentence?
Er is the present tense form of the verb å være (to be), acting as a linking verb that connects the subject filmen (“the movie”) to the predicate adjective imponerende (“impressive”). It establishes the state or quality attributed to the subject.
Why is the adjective imponerende not inflected in this sentence?
In Norwegian, when an adjective is used in a predicate position (after the linking verb), it generally remains uninflected regardless of the subject’s gender or number. Therefore, imponerende stays in its base form even though the subject filmen is definite.
What is the significance of the form filmen in the sentence?
Filmen is the subject of the sentence and is in its definite form. In Norwegian, the definite article is often attached to the noun as a suffix (here, -en), indicating that it refers to a specific movie (“the movie”).
How does the word order in Filmen er imponerende. compare to English?
The word order in this Norwegian sentence is very similar to English. Both follow a Subject-Verb-Predicate structure: filmen (“the movie”) is the subject, er (“is”) is the linking verb, and imponerende (“impressive”) is the predicate adjective. This similarity makes the structure relatively straightforward for English speakers.
Would adjective inflection change if imponerende were used attributively instead of predicatively?
Yes, it would. When adjectives are used attributively (directly before a noun), Norwegian often inflects them based on the gender, number, and definiteness of the noun. However, in the predicate position—as in Filmen er imponerende.—the adjective remains uninflected.