Den tiltalte svarer på spørsmålet.

Yes. Den tiltalte means the accused or the defendant.

Here, tiltalte is being used like a noun, even though it originally comes from the past participle of å tiltale in the legal sense of to charge/prosecute. So literally it is something like the charged one, but in natural English that becomes the accused or the defendant.

Because Norwegian usually marks definiteness explicitly.

• en tiltalt = an accused person / a defendant
• den tiltalte = the accused / the defendant

In this sentence, the person is definite, so Norwegian uses den plus the definite adjective/noun form.

Because den is used with common-gender words, while det is used with neuter words.

The underlying noun here is en tiltalt (common gender), so the definite form is:

• den tiltalte

Compare:

• den store bilen = the big car
• det store huset = the big house

So den matches the gender of the noun implied by tiltalte.

In this sentence, it functions as a noun phrase: the accused.

Historically and grammatically, it comes from a participle/adjectival form, but Norwegian often uses such forms substantively, just like English can use the accused, the poor, or the injured.

So in practice, it is best to understand den tiltalte here as a noun phrase meaning the accused person.

Svarer is the present tense of å svare = to answer / respond.

So:

• å svare = to answer
• svarer = answers / is answering

Norwegian verbs do not change by person:

• jeg svarer = I answer
• du svarer = you answer
• han svarer = he answers
• de svarer = they answer

That makes Norwegian verb conjugation simpler than English in this respect.

Because å svare på is the normal pattern when you answer a question, letter, accusation, criticism, and so on.

So:

• svare på et spørsmål = answer a question
• svare på brevet = reply to the letter

This is one of those verb + preposition combinations that you simply need to learn as a unit.

English says answer the question without a preposition, but Norwegian usually says svare på spørsmålet.

Spørsmålet means the question.

It comes from:

• et spørsmål = a question
• spørsmålet = the question

This is a neuter noun, which is why the indefinite article is et.

Because Norwegian often forms the definite noun by adding a suffix to the noun.

For a neuter noun like et spørsmål, the definite singular is usually formed with -et:

• et spørsmål = a question
• spørsmålet = the question

This is one of the most important features of Norwegian: definiteness is often attached directly to the noun.

Yes, that is possible, and it means almost the same thing.

• Den tiltalte svarer på spørsmålet = The accused answers the question.
• Den tiltalte besvarer spørsmålet = The accused answers the question.

The verb besvare is more direct and often a bit more formal. With besvare, you normally do not use på.

So both are correct, but svare på is a very common everyday pattern.

It follows the normal Norwegian main-clause word order:

Subject + verb + prepositional phrase

• Den tiltalte = subject
• svarer = verb
• på spørsmålet = prepositional phrase

So the structure is very straightforward: The accused answers the question.

The past tense of å svare is svarte.

So:

• Den tiltalte svarte på spørsmålet. = The accused answered the question.

This is a useful pattern to remember:

• å svare = to answer
• svarer = answers
• svarte = answered
• har svart = has answered

A rough guide is: TEEL-tahl-teh.

A few helpful notes:

• ti sounds like tee
• a is a broad ah
• the final e is usually pronounced, not silent like in English

But pronunciation varies somewhat by dialect, so it is best to listen to native audio if possible.

Yes, somewhat. Den tiltalte is a legal or courtroom-style expression. In ordinary conversation, you would not usually refer to someone this way unless you were specifically talking about a legal case.

So the sentence sounds natural in a legal context, such as:

• a court report
• a news article about a trial
• courtroom discussion