Politiet foretar etterforskningen.

the police

Breakdown of Politiet foretar etterforskningen.

• etterforskningen: the investigation
• foreta: to carry out

Questions & Answers about Politiet foretar etterforskningen.

Why is it politiet and not just politi?

Because -et marks the definite form: politiet = the police.

In Norwegian, nouns often add the definite article to the end of the word instead of putting a separate word in front:

• et politi (rare as a countable noun in this meaning)
• politiet = the police

In this sentence, politiet refers to the police as an institution or authority, so the definite form is natural.

Is politiet singular or plural?

Grammatically, politiet is treated as a singular neuter noun in Norwegian, even though in English the police usually takes a plural verb.

So:

• Politiet foretar ... = literally something like The police carries out ...
• But in natural English, we say The police are carrying out ...

This is a good example of Norwegian and English not matching exactly in grammatical number.

Why is the verb foretar and not something like foreta?