Questions & Answers about Den er billig, men liten.
What does Den refer to, and why is it den and not det?
Den is a third‑person singular pronoun meaning it (or that) for a gendered, non‑neuter noun – that is, a noun that is grammatically masculine or feminine in Norwegian.
If the thing being talked about is an en‑word (masculine/feminine), like en bil (a car), en veske (a bag), en bok (a book), you use den:
- (Bilen) Den er billig, men liten. – (The car) It is cheap, but small.
If the thing is a neuter noun (an et‑word), you would normally use det instead:
- (Huset) Det er billig, men lite. – (The house) It is cheap, but small.
In this sentence, context (not shown here) must be some en‑word noun, so den is used.
Why is the adjective billig in this form and not billige?