Den uvedkommende åpnet dokumentet.

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Breakdown of Den uvedkommende åpnet dokumentet.

• dokumentet: the document
• den uvedkommende: the unauthorized person

Questions & Answers about Den uvedkommende åpnet dokumentet.

Why does the sentence start with Den?

Because den uvedkommende is a definite noun phrase: it means a specific person, not just any person.

Here, uvedkommende is being used like a noun meaning something like the unauthorized person / the outsider / the person who wasn’t supposed to be involved. Norwegian often uses den with an adjective that stands in for a noun.

So:

• en uvedkommende = an unauthorized person / an outsider
• den uvedkommende = the unauthorized person / the outsider

What exactly is uvedkommende here: an adjective or a noun?

It is basically an adjective used as a noun.

On its own, uvedkommende is an adjective that can mean things like:

• not involved
• unauthorized
• irrelevant
  depending on context.

In this sentence, it refers to a person, so it functions like a noun phrase: the unauthorized person or the outsider.

This is similar to English expressions like:

• the rich
• the poor
• the accused

Why is it den and not det?