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Questions & Answers about Huden er ren.
How do you form the definite singular of hud, i.e. huden, and what does that suffix indicate?
hud is a common-gender noun (indefinite en hud = a skin). Adding the suffix -en marks it as definite singular, so huden = the skin.
What is the gender of hud, and how do you say “a skin” in Norwegian?
hud is common gender (sometimes called “n-word”). The indefinite article is en, so en hud = a skin.
What part of speech is er, and what tense is it?
er is the present-tense form of the verb å være (to be). So huden er ren literally means the skin is clean.
Why doesn’t the adjective ren change to rent or rene in this sentence?
Because ren appears in predicative position (after the verb er). Predicative adjectives in Norwegian stay in their base (strong) form and do not take endings for gender or number.
How would you say “a clean skin” using an attributive adjective?
Place the adjective before the noun in its uninflected form:
en ren hud = a clean skin.
How do you say “the clean skin” when using an attributive adjective, and why does the adjective now take an ending?
You say den rene huden. When a noun is definite and you use an attributive adjective, you add -e to the adjective and use the demonstrative article den:
den rene huden = the clean skin.
How do you form the plural of hud, and how would you say “clean skins” both indefinite and definite?
– Plural indefinite: add -er → huder, so rene huder = clean skins.
– Plural definite: add -ene → hudene, and use plural article de; attributive adjective also takes -e:
de rene hudene = the clean skins.
How do you make the sentence negative, i.e. “the skin is not clean”?
Insert ikke (not) after the verb:
Huden er ikke ren.