Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Gaffelen ligger over kniven.

ligger is the present tense of the intransitive verb ligge, which means “to lie” or “to be located.” Here it’s like saying “lies” or “is lying.” The infinitive is ligge.

What’s the difference between ligge and legge? I often hear both.

They sound similar but have different functions:

ligge (to lie, be located) is intransitive and describes a static position. E.g. “Boken ligger på bordet” = “The book lies on the table.”
legge (to lay, put) is transitive and requires a direct object. E.g. “Jeg legger boken på bordet” = “I put the book on the table.”

Why do gaffelen and kniven end with -en instead of having a separate word for “the”?

In Norwegian Bokmål, the definite article for singular common-gender nouns is added as a suffix:

gaffel (fork) → gaffelen (the fork)
kniv (knife) → kniven (the knife)

What gender are gaffel and kniv, and how does that affect their articles?