Saken er viktig.

The case is important.

Breakdown of Saken er viktig.

• være: to be
• viktig: important
• saken: the case; matter being discussed

Questions & Answers about Saken er viktig.

Why is it saken and not just sak?

Because saken is the definite singular form of sak.

• sak = a case / a matter / an issue
• saken = the case / the matter / the issue

In Norwegian, the definite article is often added to the end of the noun as a suffix.

So:

• en sak = a case
• saken = the case

That is why Saken er viktig means The case/matter is important, not A case/matter is important.

What does the ending -en mean in saken?

The ending -en is the usual definite ending for many masculine nouns in Norwegian Bokmål.

Here:

• sak is a noun
• saken = sak + en

This works like the in English.

More examples:

• bil = car

• bilen = the car

• hund = dog
• hunden = the dog

So in this sentence, -en is doing the job that English the does.