Notatboken er billig, men pennen er dyr.

to be

Breakdown of Notatboken er billig, men pennen er dyr.

• men: but
• dyr: expensive
• billig: cheap

Questions & Answers about Notatboken er billig, men pennen er dyr.

What is notatboken, and why does it end with -en?

notatboken is the definite singular form of notatbok (notebook). In Norwegian, the definite article (“the”) is usually attached as a suffix: for masculine nouns you add -en, for feminine -a, and for neuter -et. So notatbok (a notebook) becomes notatboken (the notebook).

How would you say “a notebook” in Norwegian?

You say en notatbok. en is the indefinite masculine article (“a”), placed before the noun in the singular.

Why aren’t there separate words like “the” before the nouns?

Unlike English, Norwegian often uses a post-positive article. Instead of saying the notepad, you attach the article to the noun itself (notatbok → notatboken). This is standard for most common nouns.

Why do the adjectives billig and dyr have no endings in this sentence?

Here billig (cheap) and dyr (expensive) are predicate adjectives following the verb er (is). In predicate position, adjectives remain uninflected—they stay in their basic form, without -e or other endings.