Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Kaken er søt, men desserten med frukt er bedre. - The cake is sweet, but the dessert with fruit is better.

Because both kaken and desserten are in the definite form, referring to specific items already known in context. In Norwegian Bokmål you mark definiteness by adding a suffix on the noun: common-gender nouns take -en, neuter nouns take -et, and plurals take -ene.

How do you form the definite singular of a common-gender noun like kake or dessert?

You add -en to the base form. For example:
• kake → kaken
• dessert → desserten
If it were a neuter noun (e.g. hus), you’d add -et to get huset.

Could I instead say den søte kaken? How does that work?

Yes. That’s the definite attributive construction: you put the article den before the adjective + noun, and the adjective takes -e to agree. So den søte kaken also means “the sweet cake.”

Why doesn’t søt change its ending in kaken er søt?

Here søt is used predicatively (after the verb er). Predicative adjectives in Bokmål remain in their base form, so you do not add -e or any other ending.

Why is bedre used instead of søtere, and why can’t I say mer søt?

Comparative of søt is søtere, so if you want to say “sweeter,” you use søtere (and cannot say mer søt). But bedre is the irregular comparative of god/bra (“good”), meaning “better” in general. In our sentence the writer wants to say “the fruit dessert is better,” not just “sweeter.”

Why is there no enn in desserten med frukt er bedre?

The contrast is set up by men (“but”), so the comparison “better than the cake” is implied. If you want an explicit comparative clause you add enn:
Desserten med frukt er bedre enn kaken.

What does men do here, and how is it different from og?

men means “but” and introduces a contrast. og means “and” and simply adds or connects information without implying contrast.

Why do we say desserten med frukt with med, and could we phrase it differently?

med means “with” and links the dessert to its accompaniment frukt. Alternatives include:
• A compound noun: fruktdessert (fruit dessert).
• A relative clause: desserten som har frukt (“the dessert that has fruit”).
But desserten med frukt is a straightforward, common way to say “the dessert with fruit.”

Why is frukt not frukten or frukter?

Here frukt is an uncountable, mass noun meaning “fruit” in general—you don’t need to mark it as definite or plural. frukten would mean “the (specific) fruit,” and frukter would imply discrete fruits (“fruits”), which changes the nuance.

How would you say a sweet cake (indefinite) instead of the cake is sweet?

You’d use the indefinite article and the base adjective:
en søt kake
(“a sweet cake”).