Tjue personer kom.

Twenty people came.

Breakdown of Tjue personer kom.

• komme: to come
• personen: the person
• tjue: twenty

Questions & Answers about Tjue personer kom.

Why does person become personer here?

Because personer is the indefinite plural form of person.

A quick overview:

• en person = one person
• personen = the person
• personer = people / persons
• personene = the people

Since tjue refers to more than one person, Norwegian uses the plural: personer.

Why is there no article before tjue personer?

After a number, Norwegian normally uses the indefinite plural noun with no article:

• to personer
• fem biler
• tjue personer

So tjue personer is the normal pattern. You do not add something like English the unless you specifically mean a definite group. For example:

• Tjue personer kom. = an indefinite group of twenty people
• De tjue personene kom. = the twenty people came

Is kom the past tense of komme?

Yes. Kom is the past tense of komme.

Useful forms are:

• komme = to come
• kommer = come / am coming / are coming
• kom = came
• har kommet = have/has come

So in this sentence, kom shows that the action happened in the past.