Barna sitter i sanden og leker.

the child

Breakdown of Barna sitter i sanden og leker.

• i: in
• og: and
• leke: to play

Questions & Answers about Barna sitter i sanden og leker.

What does Barna literally mean, and how is it formed from barn?

Barn means child (or children in the plural). It is a neuter noun with an irregular plural. Its forms are:

• et barn – a child (indefinite singular)
• barnet – the child (definite singular)
• barn – children (indefinite plural)
• barna – the children (definite plural)

So Barna literally means the children. The definite article “the” is attached as a suffix -a instead of being a separate word.

Why is it Barna and not Barnene?

Many Norwegian neuter nouns with an -n in the stem form their definite plural with -a, not -ene. Barn is one of these irregular nouns.

• You never say barnene in standard Norwegian.
• Correct: barna = the children.

A more regular neuter noun would look like:

• et hus – a house
• hus – houses
• husene – the houses

But barn is irregular, so its definite plural is barna, not barnene.

Why is sitter used, and not something like er sitter to mean “are sitting”?