Word
Den nye leiligheten er bare 48 kvadratmeter, men den er lys og fin.
Meaning
The new apartment is only 48 square meters, but it is bright and nice.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Den nye leiligheten er bare 48 kvadratmeter, men den er lys og fin.
være
to be
og
and
men
but
den
it
Questions & Answers about Den nye leiligheten er bare 48 kvadratmeter, men den er lys og fin.
Why does it say Den nye leiligheten instead of just Leiligheten or Den leiligheten?
Because Norwegian often uses a “double definiteness” pattern when a definite noun has an adjective:
- den (definite determiner) + nye (adjective) + leiligheten (noun with definite ending)
So Den nye leiligheten = the new apartment.
If you remove the adjective, you typically just say Leiligheten = the apartment.
Den leiligheten (without an adjective) is more like that apartment in many contexts.
What’s going on with the word nye—why isn’t it ny?
When an adjective comes before a definite noun phrase (like den … leiligheten), the adjective usually takes the “definite/weak” form, which for many adjectives is -e:
- en ny leilighet = a new apartment
- den nye leiligheten = the new apartment
So ny → nye is just the required form in this structure.
Why does leiligheten end in -en?