Breakdown of Uten hjelm er det farligere og mindre trygt.
være
to be
og
and
det
it
uten
without
hjelmen
the helmet
farligere
more dangerous
mindre trygt
less safe
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Questions & Answers about Uten hjelm er det farligere og mindre trygt.
What does uten mean and how is it used in this sentence?
uten is a preposition meaning without. Here it introduces the adverbial phrase uten hjelm, indicating the condition “without a helmet.”
Why is there no article before hjelm?
After the preposition uten, indefinite singular nouns normally drop the article. So you say uten hjelm (“without a helmet”). You could say uten en hjelm, but the shorter form without en is more common.
Why is the word order in the main clause er det instead of det er?
When a sentence begins with an adverbial phrase (here uten hjelm), Norwegian main clauses invert the subject and verb. So you get er (verb) before det (subject), yielding er det.
What is the role of det in er det?
This det is a dummy (impersonal) subject, similar to English “it” in it is dangerous. Norwegian needs a subject after the verb, so det fills that slot.
How is the comparative farligere formed from farlig?
farlig (“dangerous”) is a one-syllable adjective ending in a hard consonant. Its comparative is formed by adding -ere, giving farligere (“more dangerous”).
Why is mindre trygt used instead of tryggere?
Here we want to say less safe, not safer. To express “less” you use mindre + adjective, so mindre trygt. If you said tryggere, you’d be saying “safer.”
Why does trygt end in -t rather than -re or have no ending?
trygg is an adjective that must agree with the neuter subject det. In the neuter singular indefinite form, trygg takes -t, yielding trygt. That’s why it’s mindre trygt here.
What’s the nuance between mindre trygt and ikke så trygt?
Both can mean “not so safe,” but mindre trygt literally means “less safe” (a direct comparative). ikke så trygt is more like “not that safe” and can feel a bit softer or more subjective.