Min hobby er å lese bøker om kvelden.

to be

Breakdown of Min hobby er å lese bøker om kvelden.

• boken: the book
• å: to
• lese: to read

Questions & Answers about Min hobby er å lese bøker om kvelden.

Why is it Min hobby instead of Hobbyen min? Which is more natural?

Both are correct. Norwegian allows possessives both before and after the noun.

• Preposed possessive: min hobby (noun is indefinite). Slightly more formal or contrastive: you’re emphasizing whose hobby it is.
• Postposed possessive: hobbyen min (noun is definite). This is the most common, neutral choice in everyday speech. Both Min hobby er … and Hobbyen min er … work here.

What does å do before lese? Why is it er å lese and not er lese?

å marks the infinitive. After the copula er, when the complement is a verb phrase, you use å + infinitive: er å lese. Without å it’s ungrammatical.

• You drop å after modal verbs: Jeg kan/skal/vil/må lese.
• With many other verbs you keep å: Jeg begynner å lese, Jeg liker å lese.

Could I say lesing instead of å lese?

You can, but it changes the feel:

• Min hobby er å lese bøker is the most idiomatic and natural.
• Min hobby er lesing is grammatical but more abstract.
• Min hobby er lesing av bøker is possible but sounds formal/stilted. Prefer å lese in everyday language.