Uten pass er det umulig å fly.

to be

Breakdown of Uten pass er det umulig å fly.

• å: to
• det: it
• uten: without

Questions & Answers about Uten pass er det umulig å fly.

What does the word in bold, uten, mean, and how is it used?

Uten means “without.” It’s a preposition and is used before nouns and pronouns:

• uten pass = without (a) passport
• uten meg/deg/ham/henne/oss/dere/dem = without me/you/him/her/us/you(pl)/them Norwegian doesn’t have grammatical cases like German; you just choose the right pronoun form after the preposition.

Why is there no article before pass? Why not uten et pass?

Norwegian often drops the indefinite article with count nouns in a generic sense after uten (and med). Uten pass means “without a passport” in general.
You could say uten et pass, but it sounds unusually specific or heavy, as if referring to one particular passport. The natural choice is uten pass.

What gender is pass, and what are its forms?

Pass is neuter. Basic forms:

• Indefinite singular: et pass
• Definite singular: passet
• Indefinite plural: pass
• Definite plural: passene

Why is the verb second in Uten pass er det umulig å fly?