Tiltalen er viktig i rettssaken.

The indictment is important in the court case.

Breakdown of Tiltalen er viktig i rettssaken.

• være: to be
• i: in
• viktig: important
• rettssaken: the court case; lawsuit

Questions & Answers about Tiltalen er viktig i rettssaken.

Why does tiltale become tiltalen here?

Because Norwegian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun.

• en tiltale = an indictment / a charge
• tiltalen = the indictment / the charge

So -en is the definite ending for a singular common-gender noun.

This is one of the biggest differences from English: instead of a separate word like the, Norwegian often adds an ending to the noun.

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Where is the word for the in this sentence?

It is built into the nouns:

• tiltalen = the indictment
• rettssaken = the trial / the court case

The endings -en mark definiteness here.

So Norwegian often says in one word what English says with two words:

• the indictment → tiltalen
• the trial → rettssaken

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What gender is tiltale?

Tiltale is a common-gender noun in Bokmål, so its basic form is:

• en tiltale

From that, you get:

• tiltalen = the indictment
• tiltaler = indictments
• tiltalene = the indictments

A dictionary will normally show the gender by giving the noun as en tiltale.

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