Breakdown of Etter timen går studenten til kontoret for å sende en e-post.
en
a
gå
to go
til
to
å
to
for
for
etter
after
timen
the class
kontoret
the office
sende
to send
e-posten
the email
studenten
the student
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Questions & Answers about Etter timen går studenten til kontoret for å sende en e-post.
What does Etter timen mean, and why is timen in the definite form?
Etter means “after.” Timen is the definite form of time (lesson/class). In Norwegian you add -en to make it “the lesson,” referring to a specific class that just ended.
Why is it Etter timen instead of Etter en time?
En time means “an hour” (a duration). Timen (definite) means “the lesson” or “the class.” So Etter timen translates as “after the lesson,” not “after one hour.”
What’s going on with studenten? Why the -en ending?
Studenten is the definite form of en student (“a student”). The suffix -en turns it into “the student,” indicating a specific student.
Why do we use går here instead of drar or reise?
Går means “go” on foot (walk). Dra or reise mean “to go/travel” (often by vehicle). If the student is walking to the office, går is the correct choice.
What does til kontoret mean, and why is kontoret definite?
Til = “to.” Kontoret = “the office” (kontor + -et, the definite ending). If you said til et kontor, it would be “to an office” (indefinite).
What function does for å serve before sende? Could you just write å sende?
For å + infinitive expresses purpose: “in order to.”
• for å sende = “in order to send.”
Using just å sende (“to send”) doesn’t explicitly mark purpose in Norwegian subordinate clauses.
Why is there an en before e-post? Could it be omitted?
En e-post = “an e-mail” (one message). You can omit the article when speaking generally: sende e-post = “send e-mail” in general. But here it’s a specific e-mail, so you say en e-post.
Why is e-post hyphenated? I’ve also seen epost or email.
Bokmål prefers hyphenating some loanwords: e-post. You’ll still encounter variants like epost or email, but e-post is the most standard.
Could the sentence be rearranged, e.g., Studenten går til kontoret etter timen…?
Yes, it’s grammatical. Norwegian word order is V2 (verb-second), but time expressions like Etter timen can come first for emphasis. If you start with Studenten, the rest follows: “Studenten går til kontoret etter timen for å sende en e-post.”