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I fjor skrev jeg et langt brev til min venn på en liten øy.

I fjor skrev jeg et langt brev til min venn på en liten øy.
Last year I wrote a long letter to my friend on a small island.
FromLesson 12inHardcore Norwegian
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Questions & Answers about I fjor skrev jeg et langt brev til min venn på en liten øy.

Why is i fjor placed at the beginning of the sentence, and how does it affect word order?
Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 (verb-second) rule. When you front a time adverbial like i fjor (“last year”), the finite verb (skrev) must come immediately after it, pushing the subject (jeg) into third position. You could also say Jeg skrev i fjor…, but once i fjor is in front, the verb stays in spot two.
What is skrev, and why doesn’t it look like skrive?

Skrev is the simple past form of the irregular verb skrive (“to write”). Its principal parts are: • Infinitive: skrive
• Present: skriver
• Past: skrev
• Supine (used with har): skrevet
So to talk about what happened last year, you use skrev.

Why is it et brev but en øy? How do I know which article (en/et) to use?

Norwegian nouns have two genders: common (utrum) and neuter (intetkjønn). The indefinite article is en for common-gender nouns and et for neuter.
• Brev (“letter”) is neuter → et brev
• Øy (“island”) is common → en øy

Why is it langt brev but liten øy? Shouldn’t the adjective always be the same?

Adjectives agree in gender and number. In the indefinite singular:
• Neuter nouns get -t, so lang → langt before brev (neuter): et langt brev.
• Common nouns get no ending, so liten stays liten before øy (common): en liten øy.

Why is it min venn instead of mitt venn? How do possessive pronouns work?
Possessive pronouns agree with the gender of the noun possessed. For common-gender nouns you use min, for neuter mitt. Since venn (“friend”) is common, it’s min venn. You can also use the postfix form vennen min (“the friend of mine”) for emphasis.
Why is til used in skrev … til min venn? Can’t you just say skrev min venn?
Norwegian lacks a dative case, so to mark the indirect object (“to my friend”) you must use the preposition til (“to”). Saying skrev min venn would be incorrect and unclear—always use til before the recipient.
Why is på used in på en liten øy instead of i? I thought i meant “in.”
Norwegian uses på for many open or surface-type locations—such as islands (på øya), mountains (på fjellet) or beaches (på stranda). Use i for enclosed areas (rooms, countries, cities). Hence, “on an island” is på en øy.