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Learn Hardcore Norwegian: Politiet undersøker dødsfallet. - The police investigate the death.

Hardcore Norwegian
/Making a consumer complaint
/Politiet undersøker dødsfallet.

Politiet undersøker dødsfallet.

Word

Politiet undersøker dødsfallet.

Meaning

The police investigate the death.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Hardcore Norwegian

Lesson

Making a consumer complaint

Breakdown of Politiet undersøker dødsfallet.

to investigate; examine

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Questions & Answers about Politiet undersøker dødsfallet.

Why is it politiet and not politi?

Politiet is the definite form, so it means the police.

In Norwegian, definiteness is usually added to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the:

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

So in this sentence, Politiet undersøker dødsfallet, the speaker is talking about a specific police force or the police in the situation being discussed.

Why is there no separate word for the?

Because Norwegian usually puts the definite article onto the noun itself.

Compare:

en bil = a car
bilen = the car
et hus = a house
huset = the house

Here, both nouns are definite:

politiet = the police
dødsfallet = the death / the death case

So Norwegian does not need a separate word before the noun in this sentence.

What tense is undersøker?

Undersøker is the present tense of å undersøke.

å undersøke = to investigate / to examine
undersøker = investigates / is investigating

In Norwegian, the present tense often covers both English simple present and present progressive:

Politiet undersøker dødsfallet
= The police investigate the death or, more naturally, The police are investigating the death

The exact English translation depends on context.

Does undersøker change depending on who does the action?

No. Norwegian verbs do not change for person in the present tense.

For example:

jeg undersøker = I investigate / am investigating
du undersøker = you investigate / are investigating
han undersøker = he investigates / is investigating
vi undersøker = we investigate / are investigating

So undersøker stays the same no matter who the subject is.

Why is dødsfallet one word?

Because Norwegian very often forms compound nouns as a single word.

Here:

død = death
fall = fall / case / occurrence

Together:

dødsfall = death, death case, fatality

And then the definite form:

dødsfallet = the death / the death case

The -s- in the middle is a common linking element in compounds. So this is not unusual at all in Norwegian.

What is the difference between død and dødsfall?

They are related, but not used in exactly the same way.

død = death, or dead in some contexts
dødsfall = a death as an event or case, often used in formal, medical, legal, or news language

So in a sentence about police activity, dødsfallet sounds natural because the police are investigating a death case or the death as an event.

Using død here would sound less natural.

Is politiet grammatically singular or plural?

It is usually treated as a singular neuter noun in Norwegian, even though in English the police looks plural.

That means Norwegian thinks of it more like the police force or the police service as an institution.

This is one reason English speakers have to avoid translating word-for-word. English says:

The police are investigating ...

But Norwegian says:

Politiet undersøker ...

The verb form itself does not reveal singular/plural very clearly, since Norwegian present-tense verbs do not change by person or number, but the noun is grammatically singular.

What is the basic word order in this sentence?

The word order is the normal Norwegian statement pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object

Politiet = subject
undersøker = verb
dødsfallet = object

So:

Politiet undersøker dødsfallet.
The police are investigating the death.

This is very similar to standard English word order in a main clause.

Why is there no word like English are in the sentence?

Because Norwegian does not need an extra verb to make the present progressive in this kind of sentence.

English often says:

The police are investigating ...

Norwegian usually just uses the present tense:

Politiet undersøker ...

So undersøker by itself can mean investigates or is investigating, depending on context.

Could you also say etterforsker instead of undersøker?

Yes, possibly, but the meaning shifts slightly.

å undersøke = to examine, investigate, look into
å etterforske = to investigate in a criminal or police sense, often more specifically to conduct an official investigation

So:

Politiet undersøker dødsfallet can mean the police are looking into the death.
Politiet etterforsker dødsfallet sounds more like an official criminal investigation.

Both can be natural, but etterforsker is often more specifically police/legal.

How do you pronounce dødsfallet?

A rough guide is:

DØDS-fal-let

A few points:

ø is a rounded vowel that English does not really have
døds- has a consonant cluster that may feel awkward at first
the stress is mainly on the first part: DØDS

You do not need to pronounce every letter in an exaggerated way; in natural speech, the middle consonants can flow together quite smoothly.

If pronunciation is your goal, the most important thing is to get reasonably close on:

ø
the rhythm of the compound
the final -et in fallet

Can this sentence refer to a specific death already known in the conversation?

Yes. Because dødsfallet is definite, it often suggests a specific death that speaker and listener can identify from context.

For example, it could mean:

a death already mentioned
a death everyone in the news is talking about
a death in a particular case

If you wanted to say a death more generally, you would usually use the indefinite form:

et dødsfall = a death

So the definite ending -et matters a lot here.

Is this sentence Bokmål?

Yes, this is standard Bokmål.

In Bokmål:

Politiet undersøker dødsfallet.

A Nynorsk version might look different, for example with a different verb choice or noun form depending on style, but the sentence you were given is clearly normal Bokmål.

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