Drapsmannen forteller historien.

the story

Breakdown of Drapsmannen forteller historien.

• fortelle: to tell
• drapsmannen: the murderer

Questions & Answers about Drapsmannen forteller historien.

Why do drapsmannen and historien have the article attached to the end?

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually added as a suffix to the noun instead of being a separate word like English the.

So:

• drapsmann = murderer
• drapsmannen = the murderer

and

• historie = story / history
• historien = the story / the history

This is one of the biggest differences from English. Instead of saying the murderer, Norwegian often says one word: drapsmannen.

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

Because Norwegian often expresses definiteness directly on the noun.

So English:

• the murderer tells the story

becomes Norwegian:

• Drapsmannen forteller historien.

The -en ending on both nouns already means the.

There are cases in Norwegian where you also see a separate definite word like den, det, or de, but in a simple sentence like this, the suffix alone is enough.

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What exactly is drapsmannen? Is it a compound word?