Livstid er en streng straff.

to be

Breakdown of Livstid er en streng straff.

• en: a
• streng: strict
• straffen: the punishment

Questions & Answers about Livstid er en streng straff.

What does livstid mean here exactly?

Here, livstid means life imprisonment or a life sentence.

Literally, the word is built from:

• liv = life
• tid = time

So the literal idea is lifetime, but in a legal or crime-related context, livstid is commonly understood as life in prison.

In other contexts, en livstid can also simply mean a lifetime.

Is livstid short for a longer expression?

Yes. In this sentence, livstid is basically a shorthand way of referring to something like:

• livstidsstraff = life sentence / life punishment
• livstidsdom = life sentence in the legal sense of a court judgment

Norwegian often does this when the context is clear. So Livstid er en streng straff is a shorter, more compact way of expressing the same idea.

Why is there no article before livstid?

Because livstid is being used in a general, abstract way.

The sentence is talking about life imprisonment as a concept, not about one specific life sentence. In Norwegian, nouns used this way often appear without an article.

So the meaning is closer to:

• Life imprisonment is a severe punishment

rather than:

• A life sentence is a severe punishment

If you wanted to be more explicit and countable, you could say En livstidsdom er en streng straff.