Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Soloppgangen over skyskraperne er vakker. - The sunrise over the skyscrapers is beautiful.

soloppgangen is the definite form of soloppgang (sunrise). It’s a compound of sol (sun) + oppgang (rising/ascension), with -en marking the definite article “the.” So it literally means “the sun rise,” i.e. the sunrise.

Why does soloppgangen have -en at the end rather than using a separate word for “the”?

In Norwegian Bokmål, the definite article is usually suffixed to the noun. For common‐gender nouns you add -en (soloppgang → soloppgangen). For neuter nouns you add -et. Instead of saying “the soloppgang,” you show “the” by the ending.

How do we form skyskraperne from skyskraper, and what does it mean?

skyskraper is the indefinite plural for “skyscrapers.” To make it definite plural, you add -ne (common‐gender plurals take -er then -ne): skyskraper → skyskraperne. So skyskraperne means the skyscrapers.

Why is the adjective vakker not vakre, since it describes skyskraperne?

Because vakker is used predicatively after the verb er (“is”), it doesn’t agree in number or gender. Predicative adjectives in Bokmål stay in their base form:
Soloppgangen … er vakker.
If you use the adjective attributively (in front of the noun), it would agree:
– en vakker soloppgang (indefinite singular)
– de vakre skyskraperne (definite plural)

Could I say En soloppgang over skyskrapere er vakker instead?

Yes. That’s the indefinite version:
En soloppgang over skyskrapere er vakker
(“A sunrise above skyscrapers is beautiful.”)
You use en (indefinite article) and drop the -en/-ne suffixes from the nouns.

What role does over skyskraperne play here, and could we use på skyskraperne?

over skyskraperne is a prepositional phrase modifying soloppgangen (it tells you where the sunrise is). over means “above” or “over,” so it’s correct: the sun rises above the skyscrapers. You can’t use på (“on”) because that would imply the sunrise is physically on top of them, which doesn’t make sense.

What gender is soloppgang, and how can I tell?

soloppgang is a common‐gender noun (indefinite article en soloppgang). You can tell because its definite form ends in -en. If it were neuter, its definite form would end in -et (e.g. et hus → huset).

How do you pronounce skyskraperne?

It’s roughly [ˈsyː.skɾɑː.pəɾ.nə]. Stress on the first syllable: SKY-skra-per-ne. The “y” sounds like the French “u” in tu, and the “r”s are tapped or lightly rolled.