Vi finner en ledig parkeringsplass bak huset.

a

Breakdown of Vi finner en ledig parkeringsplass bak huset.

• vi: we
• huset: the house
• finne: to find

Questions & Answers about Vi finner en ledig parkeringsplass bak huset.

Why is it vi finner and not something like vi er finner to mean “we are finding”?

Norwegian does not use å være (to be) + -ing form the way English does.

• Vi finner = We find / We are finding
• Norwegian simple present covers both English simple present and present continuous.

So:

• Vi finner en ledig parkeringsplass bak huset.
  = We find / We are finding a free parking space behind the house.

You would not say vi er finner; that is ungrammatical.

Why is there an article en before ledig parkeringsplass? In English we often say “We find parking behind the house” without “a”.

In Norwegian, countable singular nouns almost always need an article (indefinite or definite).

• en parkeringsplass = a parking space (indefinite, singular)
• parkeringsplassen = the parking space (definite, singular)

If you mean one specific space, you must say en parkeringsplass.
If you leave out the article: Vi finner ledig parkeringsplass — it sounds incomplete or wrong in normal Norwegian.

Norwegian does not usually use a bare singular noun here the way English can with “parking.”

Why is it en and not et before parkeringsplass?