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Questions & Answers about Vi ser statsministeren.
Why is it statsministeren and not statsminister?
Because Norwegian usually marks the definite form by adding an ending to the noun.
- statsminister = prime minister
- statsministeren = the prime minister
So in Vi ser statsministeren, the ending -en means the.
This is different from English, where the is a separate word. In Norwegian, it is often attached to the noun.
What does the ending -en mean here?
In this sentence, -en is the definite singular ending for a masculine noun.
- en statsminister = a prime minister
- statsministeren = the prime minister
So -en tells you that the noun is definite: you are talking about a specific prime minister, not just any prime minister.
Why is there no word for the before statsministeren?
Because Norwegian normally expresses definiteness by adding it to the noun itself.
English:
- the prime minister
Norwegian:
- statsministeren
You do not usually say den statsministeren here unless you mean something more like that prime minister or want extra emphasis in a different structure.
Why is ser the same for , , , and so on?