Gjerningsmannen skjuler ansiktet.

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Breakdown of Gjerningsmannen skjuler ansiktet.

• ansiktet: the face
• gjerningsmannen: the perpetrator

Questions & Answers about Gjerningsmannen skjuler ansiktet.

Why is gjerningsmannen written as one word?

Because Norwegian makes compound nouns very freely. What English often writes as two words, Norwegian often writes as one.

• gjerning = deed / act
• mann = man

So gjerningsmann is a compound noun meaning perpetrator / offender. Then -en is added to make it definite, so gjerningsmannen means the perpetrator.

Why does gjerningsmannen end in -en?

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like English the.

For this masculine noun:

• en gjerningsmann = a perpetrator
• gjerningsmannen = the perpetrator

So -en here is the definite ending.

Why is it ansiktet and not just ansikt?

For the same reason: ansiktet is the definite form.

• et ansikt = a face
• ansiktet = the face

Ansikt is a neuter noun, so its definite singular ending is -et.

Why doesn’t Norwegian use a separate word for the, like English does?