Et langt nattskift kan være tungt, selv om skiftplanen er tydelig.

A long night shift can be hard, even if the shift schedule is clear.

Breakdown of Et langt nattskift kan være tungt, selv om skiftplanen er tydelig.

• være: to be
• et: a
• lang: long
• kunne: can

Questions & Answers about Et langt nattskift kan være tungt, selv om skiftplanen er tydelig.

Why is it Et langt nattskift and not En lang nattskift?

Norwegian has grammatical gender. Skift (and therefore nattskift) is a neuter noun, so it uses:

• the neuter article et (not en),
• the neuter adjective ending -t → langt (not lang).

Pattern:

• et langt nattskift
• en lang dag (dag is masculine)
• ei lang natt (natt is feminine in many dialects; written Bokmål often uses en natt)

So et langt nattskift is just adjective–noun agreement in the neuter gender.

Why is the adjective langt and not lang?

Adjectives in Norwegian agree with the gender and number of the noun:

• Masculine/feminine singular: lang
  
  • en lang dag, ei lang natt
• Neuter singular: langt
  
  • et langt nattskift
• Plural (all genders): lange
  
  • lange skift

Since nattskift is neuter singular, the correct form of the adjective is langt.

What exactly does mean, and why is it one word?