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Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Politiet bruker håndjernene. - The police use the handcuffs.

Hardcore Norwegian
/Borrowing from a shared tool library
/Politiet bruker håndjernene.

Politiet bruker håndjernene.

Word

Politiet bruker håndjernene.

Meaning

The police use the handcuffs.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Norwegian

Lesson

Borrowing from a shared tool library

Breakdown of Politiet bruker håndjernene.

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Questions & Answers about Politiet bruker håndjernene.

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

In Norwegian, definiteness is usually shown by adding an ending to the noun, instead of using a separate word like English the.

politiet = the police
håndjernene = the handcuffs

So the endings are doing the job that the does in English.

-et in politiet marks a definite form
-ene in håndjernene marks the definite plural

Is politiet singular or plural?

Grammatically, politiet is treated as a collective noun, not as a normal plural noun.

That can feel strange to an English speaker, because English says the police and treats it as plural: the police are. Norwegian instead uses politiet, which refers to the police as a body or institution.

So:

English: the police
Norwegian: politiet

Even though it refers to more than one person in real life, the noun itself is not a regular plural form like officers.

Why is it just bruker? Why isn’t there something like are using?

Norwegian usually uses the simple present where English often uses either simple present or present continuous.

So bruker can mean:

uses
is using
sometimes even do use, depending on context

That means Politiet bruker håndjernene could be understood as either:

The police use the handcuffs
The police are using the handcuffs

Norwegian normally does not need a separate form like English are using.

What form is håndjernene?

Håndjernene is the definite plural form of håndjern.

A simple way to think of the forms is:

håndjern = handcuffs / handcuff(s)
håndjernene = the handcuffs

The ending -ene is a very common way to make a noun definite plural in Bokmål.

Would Politiet bruker håndjern mean something different?

Yes.

Politiet bruker håndjern usually means The police use handcuffs in a general sense.
Politiet bruker håndjernene points to specific handcuffs that are already known from the context.

So the difference is roughly:

håndjern = handcuffs in general
håndjernene = the particular handcuffs

This is a very important difference in Norwegian.

Does bruker change depending on the subject, like English use/uses?

No. In Norwegian, the present tense verb form is the same for all subjects.

So you get:

jeg bruker = I use
du bruker = you use
han bruker = he uses
vi bruker = we use
politiet bruker = the police use(s)

Unlike English, Norwegian does not add a special -s for he/she/it in the present tense.

Can I change the word order, for example Håndjernene bruker politiet?

You can, but it sounds marked and usually needs a special context.

The normal, neutral order is:

Politiet bruker håndjernene.

That is subject + verb + object.

If you move håndjernene to the front, you are emphasizing it:

Håndjernene bruker politiet ...

That kind of word order is possible in Norwegian, but it is not the most neutral way to say the sentence by itself. For a learner, Politiet bruker håndjernene is the safest basic pattern to use.

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