Breakdown of Skuffen er full av plast og papir som vi må sortere.
være
to be
vi
we
og
and
må
must
av
of
som
that
sortere
to sort
skuffen
the drawer
full
full
plasten
the plastic
papiret
the paper
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Questions & Answers about Skuffen er full av plast og papir som vi må sortere.
What is Skuffen and why does it end with -en?
Skuff means “drawer.” In Bokmål you form the definite singular of a common‐gender noun by adding -en, so skuffen = “the drawer.”
Why is the adjective full not fullt or fulle?
In predicate position (after er), Norwegian adjectives agree with the noun’s gender and number. Skuffen is common-gender singular, so you use the uninflected form full. Fullt would be neuter singular (e.g. rommet er fullt) and fulle would be plural (e.g. skuffer er fulle).
What does the preposition av mean here, and how is it different from med?
Av means “of” or “made up of” and specifies the material/content filling the drawer. You can also say full med plast og papir (“full with …”), but full av more strongly emphasizes that the drawer is literally filled by those items.
What role does som play in this sentence?
Som is the relative pronoun meaning “that/which.” It introduces the relative clause som vi må sortere, referring back to plast og papir: “plastic and paper that we have to sort.”
Why is there no å before sortere?
After modal verbs like må (“must/have to”), Norwegian uses the bare infinitive. You drop å, so må sortere = “must sort.”
Why is the clause som vi må sortere ordered with subject + finite verb instead of inversion?
Relative clauses are subordinate clauses in Norwegian. Subordinate clauses use normal SVO word order (subject → finite verb → object). Main clauses use V2 (verb‐second), but here som makes it a subordinate clause, so you say vi må, not må vi.
What does må mean, and could you use skal instead?
Må expresses necessity or obligation (“must/have to”). Skal can express futurity or a planned action (“shall/will”). You could say som vi skal sortere if you mean “that we are going to sort,” but må stresses that sorting is required.
Why are plast and papir not in the plural form?
Here plast (“plastic”) and papir (“paper”) are used as uncountable or mass nouns, referring to material in general. When talking about the material itself, Norwegian keeps them singular. If you meant individual items (e.g. documents), you’d use papirer (“papers”).