Den besøkende venter foran inngangen.

the entrance

Breakdown of Den besøkende venter foran inngangen.

• vente: to wait
• foran: in front of
• den besøkende: the visitor

Questions & Answers about Den besøkende venter foran inngangen.

Why is Den besøkende translated as the visitor when besøkende looks like a present participle?

Besøkende is indeed the present participle of å besøke (“to visit”), but here it’s nominalized—used as a noun. Norwegian lets you turn participles into nouns without adding a separate noun word. The demonstrative den acts like the definite article “the,” so Den besøkende literally means “the visiting one,” i.e. the visitor.

Why is it den and not det besøkende?

Norwegian has two grammatical genders in the indefinite form—common (utrum) and neuter (nøytrum)—and nominalized participles adopt the gender of the implied noun. A “visitor” (en besøkende) is common gender, so its definite form uses den. If the word were neuter, you’d see det.

How do you form the definite singular of inngang so it becomes inngangen?

1. Identify the gender: inngang is common gender (en inngang).
2. Add the suffix -en for common-gender nouns in definite singular:
   
   • en inngang → inngangen
     No separate article (den/en) is needed once you attach -en.

What’s the difference between and ?