Den ansatte jobber sent på kvelden.

to work

Breakdown of Den ansatte jobber sent på kvelden.

• sent: late
• kvelden: the evening
• på: in

Questions & Answers about Den ansatte jobber sent på kvelden.

What does den ansatte mean, and why is it den + ansatte instead of en ansatt?

Den ansatte literally means “the employee.”

• En ansatt = “an employee” (indefinite singular)
• To make it definite you have two patterns:
  
  1. Attach a suffix to the noun (e.g. ansatt-en), or
  2. Use a definite pronoun (den for common gender) + adjective inflection (add -e to ansatt) → den ansatte.
• Because ansatt is derived from a past participle (an adjective), the second pattern is more common in formal/Nynorsk contexts and official documents.

Why is ansatte spelled with an -e at the end in den ansatte?

Here, ansatte isn’t the plural “employees” but the definite form of the adjective/participle ansatt after den. Norwegian adjectives take an -e ending when they follow a definite article or pronoun:

• Indefinite singular adjective: ansatt
• Definite (with den) + adjective → den ansatte

That’s why you see the -e ending even though we’re talking about one person.

How would I say “employees” (plural) in Norwegian, and how does the sentence change?