Questions & Answers about Telefonen er nyttig.
In Norwegian Bokmål the definite article is not a separate word but a suffix on the noun.
- telefon = “phone” (indefinite)
- telefonen = “the phone” (definite, with -en suffix)
Telefon is a common-gender noun (sometimes called masculine/feminine). You know this because it uses en in front in the indefinite: en telefon (“a phone”). Common-gender nouns form the definite singular with -en.
Here nyttig is a predicative adjective (it comes after the linking verb er). Predicative adjectives stay in their basic (indefinite) form and do not take -e for definiteness or number.
- Predicative: Telefonen er nyttig.
- Attributive (before a noun, definite): den nyttige telefonen.
Nyttig means useful or helpful. You can use it:
- Predicatively: Dette verktøyet er nyttig. (“This tool is useful.”)
- Attributively: et nyttig verktøy (“a useful tool”)
The indefinite plural of telefon is telefoner. In predicative position, the adjective takes -e in the plural:
Telefoner er nyttige.
(“Phones are useful.”)
Yes.
- en nyttig telefon = “a useful phone” (indefinite, attributive use of the adjective)
- telefonen er nyttig = “the phone is useful” (definite subject, predicative adjective)
Adjectives don’t need an article before them in predicative position. If you said telefonen er en nyttig, it would mean “the phone is a useful [one]” but is awkward and rarely used in Norwegian. Stick to telefonen er nyttig.
Norwegian main clauses follow Subject–Verb–Object (SVO). Here:
Subject: Telefonen
Verb (linking): er
Adjective complement: nyttig
Indefinite singular:
- Noun: en telefon
- Attributive: en nyttig telefon
Definite singular: - Noun: telefonen
- Predicative: telefonen er nyttig
- Attributive: den nyttige telefonen
Indefinite plural: - Noun: telefoner
- Predicative: telefoner er nyttige
- Attributive: nyttige telefoner
Nearby phonetic guide (Bokmål, standard eastern dialect):
/teˈleːfɔnən ær ˈnʏtːɪg/
- Stress on the second syllable of telefonen
- The g in nyttig is soft, almost like a light “y” at the end.