Etter skilsmissen bor han alene.

he

Breakdown of Etter skilsmissen bor han alene.

• bo: to live
• etter: after
• alene: alone

Questions & Answers about Etter skilsmissen bor han alene.

What is the function of etter in this sentence, and where does it usually go?

Etter is a preposition meaning after (in time or sequence) here.

• In Etter skilsmissen bor han alene, it introduces a time phrase: etter skilsmissen = after the divorce.
• Prepositional phrases like this can go:
  • at the start: Etter skilsmissen bor han alene.
  • at the end: Han bor alene etter skilsmissen.

Both word orders are correct; starting with etter skilsmissen gives it more emphasis (what happened after the divorce).

Why is it skilsmissen and not skilsmisse?

Skilsmisse is the indefinite form (a divorce), and skilsmissen is the definite form (the divorce).

• en skilsmisse = a divorce
• skilsmissen = the divorce

Norwegian usually marks definiteness with a suffix on the noun:

• masculine: en bil → bilen (a car → the car)
• feminine: ei bok → boka (a book → the book)
• here: en skilsmisse → skilsmissen

In English you put the in front; in Norwegian you usually attach -en (or -a / -et) to the noun itself.