Puten i lenestolen er for hard.

to be

Breakdown of Puten i lenestolen er for hard.

• i: in
• puten: the cushion
• lenestolen: the armchair

Questions & Answers about Puten i lenestolen er for hard.

Why is it puten and not pute?

Because puten is the definite form of pute (pillow / cushion).

• pute = a cushion (indefinite)
• puten = the cushion (definite)

Norwegian usually shows “the” by adding an ending to the noun:

• en pute – a cushion
• puten – the cushion

In this sentence, you’re talking about a specific cushion (the one in the armchair), so the definite form puten is used.

Why is the definite article attached to the end of the word instead of using a separate word like the?

In Norwegian (and the other Scandinavian languages), the definite article is normally a suffix, not a separate word.

For masculine/feminine nouns:

• en stol – a chair
• stolen – the chair

For neuter nouns:

• et hus – a house
• huset – the house

So:

• pute → puten (the cushion)
• lenestol → lenestolen (the armchair)

There is also a form with a free-standing article (e.g. den puten), but that has extra emphasis or a specific grammatical use. The default “the X” is just X + -en / -et / -a.

Why is it i lenestolen and not på lenestolen?