Troppene beskytter fortet.

The troops protect the fort.

Breakdown of Troppene beskytter fortet.

• beskytte: to protect
• troppene: the troops
• fortet: the fort

Questions & Answers about Troppene beskytter fortet.

Why is troppene translated as the troops and not just troops?

Because -ene is the definite plural ending in Norwegian. It works like English the plus a plural noun.

• tropp = a troop
• tropper = troops
• troppene = the troops

So troppene already includes the idea of the.

Why does fortet end in -et?

The ending -et marks the definite singular form of a neuter noun.

For fort, the forms are:

• et fort = a fort
• fortet = the fort

So instead of using a separate word for the, Norwegian usually adds the definite ending to the noun.

Why isn’t there a separate word for the in this sentence?

In Norwegian, the definite article is often attached to the noun as an ending.

So English:

• the troops
• the fort

becomes Norwegian:

• troppene
• fortet

This is very normal in Norwegian. English uses a separate word; Norwegian often uses a suffix.

What tense is beskytter?