Kampen starter tidlig fordi dommeren er streng.

to be

Breakdown of Kampen starter tidlig fordi dommeren er streng.

• fordi: because
• tidlig: early
• starte: to start

Questions & Answers about Kampen starter tidlig fordi dommeren er streng.

Why is Kampen capitalized?

In Norwegian (as in English), the first word of a sentence is always written with an initial capital letter. The base word kamp means “match” or “game,” and -en makes it definite (“the match”).

What does the -en ending in Kampen indicate?

The -en suffix is the definite article for a common-gender noun in Bokmål. kamp is “a match,” while kampen is “the match.”

Could you use begynner instead of starter here?

Yes. begynner (from begynne) and starter (from starte) are near-synonyms meaning “begins/starts.” You can say Kampen begynner tidlig fordi dommeren er streng with no change in meaning.

Why is tidlig placed after starter and not at the very beginning?

Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule (verb-second). With the subject Kampen in first position, the finite verb starter must come second, so the time adverb tidlig follows the verb. If you put tidlig first, you’d invert subject and verb: Tidlig starter kampen…

Why is there no comma before fordi?