Barna synes krigshistorien er skummel.

to be

Breakdown of Barna synes krigshistorien er skummel.

• barnet: the child
• synes: to think
• skummel: scary

Questions & Answers about Barna synes krigshistorien er skummel.

What does barna literally mean, and why does it end in -a?

The base noun is barn = child (neuter).

• barn – (a) child, (some) children (same form in singular and plural)
• barna – the children (definite plural)

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually a suffix on the noun:

• barnet – the child (singular definite)
• barna – the children (plural definite)

So Barna at the start of the sentence means “The children” or “The kids”.

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Why is it barna and not barnene?

For barn (“child/children”), the normal definite plural in standard Bokmål is:

• barna – the children

barnene also exists, but:

• barna is by far the most common and is what you should use.
• barnene is more old‑fashioned / rare and can sound dialectal or very formal/literary.

So in everyday Norwegian, say barna.

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What’s the difference between synes, tror, and tenker, since they all look like “think”?