Den formstøpte delen passer.

the

Breakdown of Den formstøpte delen passer.

• delen: the part
• passe: to fit
• formstøpt: moulded

Questions & Answers about Den formstøpte delen passer.

Why is there both den and delen? Don’t they both mean the?

Yes, in a way they do. This is a very common Norwegian pattern called double definiteness.

When a noun is definite and has an adjective in front of it, Norwegian usually uses:

den/det/de + adjective + noun in definite form

So:

• delen = the part
• den formstøpte delen = the molded part

You cannot normally just say formstøpte delen in standard Bokmål. The den is needed because the adjective comes before the definite noun.

Compare:

• delen = the part
• den store delen = the big part

Why is it den and not det?

Because del is a common gender noun in Norwegian.

Norwegian articles agree with the noun’s gender:

• en del = a part
• delen = the part
• den formstøpte delen = the molded part

If the noun were neuter, you would use det instead:

• et hus = a house
• det store huset = the big house

So den tells you the noun is not neuter here.

Why does delen end in -en?