Politiet kontrollerer alibiet.

The police check the alibi.

Breakdown of Politiet kontrollerer alibiet.

• kontrollere: to check
• politiet: the police
• alibiet: the alibi

Questions & Answers about Politiet kontrollerer alibiet.

Why does politiet mean the police? It looks singular, not plural.

In Norwegian, politi is usually treated as a singular neuter noun meaning the police as an institution or body.

• et politi = a police force / police body
• politiet = the police

So even though English uses the police and often treats it like a plural idea, Norwegian commonly uses politiet with a singular verb:

• Politiet kommer. = The police are coming.

If you want to talk about one police officer, you would normally use a different noun, such as en politibetjent.

Why do both politiet and alibiet end in -et?

Because both are neuter nouns, and in Norwegian the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun.

For neuter nouns:

• indefinite: et alibi = an alibi
• definite: alibiet = the alibi

And similarly:

• indefinite: et politi (less common in everyday translation terms, but this is the form)
• definite: politiet = the police

So the -et ending here is basically the Norwegian way of saying the.

Why is there no separate word for the in this sentence?