Breakdown of Studentene får et oppgaveark med setninger de skal oversette hjemme.
et
a
med
with
skulle
shall
de
they
Questions & Answers about Studentene får et oppgaveark med setninger de skal oversette hjemme.
Why is it Studentene and not studenter?
Studentene is the definite plural form: “the students.”
- en student = a student
- studenten = the student
- studenter = students
- studentene = the students
Norwegian uses the definite form with a suffix (here -ene) instead of a separate word like English the.
In this sentence, the teacher is talking about a specific, known group (the students in the class), so Norwegian uses Studentene (“the students”) rather than just studenter (“students” in general).
Why is the article et used before oppgaveark?
Et is the neuter indefinite article in Norwegian. Nouns have grammatical gender:
- en = common gender (formerly masculine/feminine)
- et = neuter
Ark (sheet) is a neuter noun: et ark.
The compound oppgaveark (“worksheet”, literally “task-sheet”) inherits the gender of its last part, ark, so it is also neuter:
- et oppgaveark = a worksheet
So et is required here; en oppgaveark would be grammatically wrong.
What kind of word is , and why is it written as one word?