Brevet blir sendt med ferge fordi øya ikke har flyplass.

The letter is sent by ferry because the island has no airport.

Breakdown of Brevet blir sendt med ferge fordi øya ikke har flyplass.

• ha: to have
• fordi: because
• ikke: not
• flyplassen: the airport
• brevet: the letter
• øya: the island
• bli sendt: to be sent
• med: by
• fergen: the ferry

Questions & Answers about Brevet blir sendt med ferge fordi øya ikke har flyplass.

Why do we use blir sendt instead of sendes here?

Norwegian has two common passive constructions:

• The -s passive (morphological): sendes.
• The bli passive (analytical): blir sendt.
  Both mean “is sent,” but blir sendt is very common in speech and emphasizes the action taking place. Sendes sounds a bit more formal or written.

What role does blir play in this sentence?

Here, blir is an auxiliary meaning “become” used to form the passive voice.
Structure: bli (conjugated) + past participle (sendt).
So blir sendt literally means “becomes sent,” i.e. “is sent.”

Why is there no article before ferge (we say med ferge, not med en ferge)?

When talking about means of transport, Norwegian typically omits the indefinite article:

• med tog (by train)
• med buss (by bus)
• med ferge (by ferry)
  You could say med en ferge if you mean “with one specific ferry,” but in general “by ferry” uses no article.

Why is øya (“the island”) in the definite form even though we haven’t mentioned it before?

Norwegian often uses the definite form for unique or contextually obvious items. Here the island is assumed to be known in context—“the island that needs a ferry.” Saying øya (“the island”) sounds natural, whereas en øy (“an island”) would be less specific.

Why isn’t there a verb-at-the-end rule in the clause “fordi øya ikke har flyplass”?

Unlike German, Norwegian subordinate clauses introduced by fordi do not push the finite verb to the absolute end. You still follow the usual SVO pattern (with adverbs like ikke placed before the verb):
Subject (øya) + negation (ikke) + verb (har) + object (flyplass).

What’s the difference between fordi and derfor?

• fordi is a conjunction meaning “because” and introduces a subordinate clause:
  Brevet blir sendt med ferge fordi øya ikke har flyplass.
• derfor is an adverb meaning “therefore” or “that’s why” and connects two main clauses:
  Øya har ingen flyplass, derfor sendes brevet med ferge.

Can I say “Brevet sendes med ferge fordi øya ikke har flyplass” instead?

Yes! That uses the -s passive (sendes) instead of the bli passive. Both sentences are correct and convey the same meaning; the choice just affects style (formal vs. more spoken).