Breakdown of Kortinnehaveren må avgi et fingeravtrykk.
måtte
must
fingeravtrykket
the fingerprint
avgi
to provide; submit
kortinnehaveren
the cardholder
Questions & Answers about Kortinnehaveren må avgi et fingeravtrykk.
Why is kortinnehaveren written as one word?
Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as a single word.
- kort = card
- innehaver = holder
- kortinnehaver = cardholder
- kortinnehaveren = the cardholder
This is very normal in Norwegian. Where English often uses two words, Norwegian often combines them:
- bankkort = bank card
- førerkort = driver’s licence
- passnummer = passport number
So kortinnehaveren is not unusually long by Norwegian standards.
What does the -en at the end of kortinnehaveren mean?
The ending -en marks the noun as definite singular: the cardholder.
A quick breakdown:
- en innehaver = a holder
- innehaveren = the holder
- en kortinnehaver = a cardholder
- kortinnehaveren = the cardholder
In Norwegian, the definite article is often added to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like English the.
Why is there no separate word for the before kortinnehaveren?
Because in Norwegian, definiteness is usually built into the noun itself.
So instead of saying something like the cardholder, Norwegian says kortinnehaveren, where the ending -en already means the.
This is one of the most important differences from English noun structure.