Kabelen er for kort.

to be

Breakdown of Kabelen er for kort.

• kabelen: the cable
• for kort: too short

Questions & Answers about Kabelen er for kort.

What does for mean in Kabelen er for kort?

Here for means too, as in “excessively.” It’s not the same as the English preposition “for” (purpose). When placed before an adjective it expresses that something goes beyond an acceptable degree: for kort = too short.

Why isn’t kort inflected (like korte)?

In Norwegian, predicative adjectives (those that follow a linking verb like er) remain in their base form and do not take gender or number endings. If you use the adjective attributively (before a noun), you would inflect it:
• en kort kabel
• den korte kabelen

What does the -en ending on kabelen signal?

The suffix -en is the definite article in Norwegian Bokmål. kabel (a cable) + -en = kabelen (the cable). English expresses this with a separate word the, but Norwegian often uses endings.

Why is there no separate word equivalent to “the” in front of kabelen?

Because Norwegian marks definiteness with a suffix on the noun rather than a separate word. Saying the kabelen would be a double definite and is ungrammatical.

How would you ask “Is the cable too short?” in Norwegian?