Log inSign up

Kofferten er gul, men han låner sin venns svarte hatt.

Kofferten er gul, men han låner sin venns svarte hatt.
The suitcase is yellow, but he borrows his friend’s black hat.
FromLesson 17inHardcore Norwegian
……
AI Language TutorTry it ↗
“What's the best way to learn Norwegian grammar?”
Norwegian grammar becomes intuitive with practice. Focus on understanding the core patterns first — how sentences are structured, how verbs change form, and how words relate to each other. Our course breaks these concepts into small lessons so you can build understanding step by step.

Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor

Start learning Norwegian

Master Norwegian — from Kofferten er gul, men han låner sin venns svarte hatt to fluency

All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods.

  • ✓ Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
  • ✓ Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
  • ✓ Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
  • ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions
Start learning Norwegian freeBrowse the full course

More from this lesson

koffertenresepsjonenTom bærer sin nye koffert til resepsjonen.gulLampen på kjøkkenet er gul.lånesvartBilen er svart.

Questions & Answers about Kofferten er gul, men han låner sin venns svarte hatt.

Why is kofferten spelled with -en at the end?

Koffert is a common‐gender noun meaning “suitcase.” Its indefinite form is en koffert, and you make it definite by adding -en:
• en koffert → kofferten (“the suitcase”).

Why is gul not inflected to gule, since kofferten is definite?
When an adjective follows a copular verb like er (“is”), it stands predicatively and does not agree in number or definiteness. You therefore say kofferten er gul, not *gule.
Why does the sentence use han? Is it referring to the suitcase?
No. Han is the 3rd-person masculine pronoun (“he”), used for male people. Inanimate objects like a suitcase take den or det, not han. Here han clearly refers to a man borrowing the hat.
What does sin mean in sin venns? Why not use hans?
Sin is the reflexive possessive pronoun that refers back to the subject of its clause. Since the subject is han (“he”), sin venn means “his (own) friend.” If you said hans venn, it would mean “someone else’s friend” (not the friend of our “he”).
How is the genitive formed in venns?

You form the possessive/genitive of a noun by adding -s directly to the noun:
• venn → venns (“friend’s”).

Why is svart inflected to svarte before hatt?
Adjectives used attributively (before a noun) agree in number and definiteness. Because sin venns svarte hatt is a definite phrase (owned by someone), you add -e to the adjective: svart → svarte.
Why is there no article (like en) before svarte hatt?
The possessive pronoun sin already acts as a determiner, so you drop en. You say sin venns svarte hatt, not sin en venns svarte hatt.
Why is there a comma before men (“but”)?
Just like in English, you separate two independent clauses with a comma when they are joined by the coordinating conjunction men.
Shouldn’t the verb invert after men, as in men låner han?
No. In coordinate clauses introduced by men, you keep the normal main‐clause word order: men + subject + verb → men han låner….