Questions & Answers about Maskinen fungerer ikke i dag.
Why is it maskinen and not just maskin? What does the -en mean?
Maskin means machine (indefinite form).
Maskinen means the machine (definite form).
In Norwegian, the definite article (the) is usually added as an ending on the noun:
- en maskin = a machine
- maskinen = the machine
So maskinen fungerer ikke i dag means the machine is not working today, talking about a specific machine both the speaker and listener know about.
What exactly does fungerer mean? Is it like “works” or “functions”?
Fungerer is the present tense of å fungere = to function, to work (in the sense of to operate correctly).
In this sentence:
- Maskinen fungerer ikke i dag
→ The machine is not working today
(literally: The machine functions not today)
You can usually translate fungerer as:
- works (The machine works / doesn’t work)
- functions (It functions / doesn’t function)
It does not mean to work as in having a job. For that you use å jobbe or å arbeide.