Politiet ringer statsadvokaten.

Because politiet is the definite form of politi.

• politi = police / a police force in a general sense
• politiet = the police

In this sentence, Norwegian is talking about a specific police body, so it uses the definite form politiet.

Also, politi is a neuter noun, so the definite ending is -et:

• et politi
• politiet

For the same reason: it means the state prosecutor / the public prosecutor, not just a prosecutor.

The noun is:

• en statsadvokat = a state prosecutor
• statsadvokaten = the state prosecutor

Norwegian often puts definiteness directly on the noun with an ending, instead of always using a separate word like the in English.

So:

• Politiet ringer statsadvokaten. = The police are calling the state prosecutor.

Because Norwegian usually expresses the by adding an ending to the noun.

Compare:

• en statsadvokat = a state prosecutor

• statsadvokaten = the state prosecutor

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

This is one of the most important differences from English. In many simple sentences, Norwegian does not need a separate word corresponding to the.

Grammatically, politiet is usually treated as singular in Norwegian, even though in English the police is plural.

So Norwegian says:

• Politiet ringer. = The police are calling.

But the verb stays in the same form anyway, because Norwegian verbs do not change for singular and plural in the present tense.

It helps to think of politiet as a collective institution: the police as one body.

In Norwegian, å ringe can take a direct object when you mean to call someone by phone.

So:

• Jeg ringer henne. = I’m calling her.
• Politiet ringer statsadvokaten. = The police are calling the state prosecutor.

You may also hear ringe til noen, but ringe noen is very common and natural when the person being called is the direct object.

So this sentence is completely normal Norwegian.

Ringer is the present tense of å ringe.

The basic forms are:

• å ringe = to call / to ring
• ringer = call(s), am/is/are calling
• ringte = called
• har ringt = have/has called

In this sentence, ringer can mean:

• are calling
• call
• sometimes even a near future meaning, depending on context

But in a simple sentence like this, the most natural reading is are calling or call.

Here it means is calling.

The verb å ringe can cover both ideas:

• Telefonen ringer. = The phone is ringing.
• Jeg ringer legen. = I’m calling the doctor.

So the exact meaning depends on the context and what the subject/object are. Since politiet is the subject and statsadvokaten is the object, the meaning is clearly The police are calling the state prosecutor.

Because of the normal Norwegian word order:

subject + verb + object

So in:

• Politiet = subject
• ringer = verb
• statsadvokaten = object

That is the standard pattern in a basic statement.

Norwegian does not mark the object here with a special ending, so word order is very important.

Yes, but then the word order would need to change:

• Statsadvokaten ringer politiet.

That would mean:

• The state prosecutor is calling the police.

So in Norwegian, swapping the two nouns changes who is doing the action.

Because common nouns in Norwegian are not capitalized, unlike in German.

So you write:

• politiet
• statsadvokaten

They are only capitalized if they come at the beginning of a sentence, as Politiet does here.

It refers to a state prosecutor or public prosecutor, depending on how you translate it into natural English.

A word-for-word breakdown is:

• stat = state
• advokat = lawyer / advocate

But in actual use, statsadvokat is a legal title, so you should learn it as one full word rather than translating each piece literally every time.

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

po-li-TEE-eh ringer STAHTS-ad-vo-ka-ten

A few pronunciation notes:

• politiet has four syllables: po-li-ti-et
• ringer has a short, clear ng sound
• statsadvokaten is a long compound word, but native speakers run it together smoothly

If you are a beginner, it is often best to practice it in chunks:

• Politiet
• ringer
• statsadvokaten

Then say the whole sentence smoothly: Politiet ringer statsadvokaten.

Mostly yes, but you should still be careful.

A very close translation is:

• Politiet = the police
• ringer = calls / is calling
• statsadvokaten = the state prosecutor

So the sentence is essentially: The police are calling the state prosecutor.

The main thing to remember is that Norwegian uses endings for definiteness, where English uses the. So the structure is not identical even if the meaning is straightforward.