Questions & Answers about Anna vanner en plante i vinduskarmen.
What does vanner mean, and what is its infinitive form?
vanner is the present-tense form of å vanne, which means “to water.” So vanner translates as “(she) waters.”
How do you form the present tense of å vanne?
In Bokmål you drop å and add -r to the verb stem:
vanne → vanner.
Why is it en plante and not et plante?
Norwegian nouns have grammatical gender. Plante is a common-gender noun (in Bokmål often treated like feminine), so it takes the indefinite article en.
How is vinduskarmen constructed, and what does the -en ending indicate?
Vinduskarmen is a compound of vindu (window) + karm (frame/sill). The suffix -en marks the definite form, so it means “the windowsill.”
Why is the preposition i used with vinduskarmen? Could you use på instead?
I vinduskarmen literally means “in the windowsill recess,” whereas på vinduskarmen means “on the windowsill surface.” Both are grammatically correct; your choice depends on the nuance.