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Questions & Answers about Advokaten leser dokumentet.
Why do advokat and dokument end in -en and -et here?
In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun.
So:
- advokat = a lawyer
- advokaten = the lawyer
- dokument = a document
- dokumentet = the document
That is why the sentence uses advokaten and dokumentet rather than separate words for the.
Why is it advokaten but dokumentet?
Because the two nouns belong to different grammatical genders.
In Bokmål, nouns are commonly grouped like this:
- common gender: often takes -en in the definite singular
- neuter: often takes -et in the definite singular
Here:
- en advokat → advokaten
- et dokument → dokumentet
So the ending changes depending on the noun’s gender.
What would the sentence look like in the indefinite form, like A lawyer reads a document?