Foreldrene har tillit til læreren.

The parents trust the teacher.

Breakdown of Foreldrene har tillit til læreren.

• læreren: the teacher
• forelderen: the parent
• ha tillit til: to trust

Questions & Answers about Foreldrene har tillit til læreren.

What does the -ene at the end of foreldrene mean?

The ending -ene is the definite plural ending in Bokmål.

• foreldre = parents (indefinite plural, “parents” in general)
• foreldrene = the parents (definite plural, a specific group of parents)

So foreldrene literally means “the parents.”

What is the difference between foreldre, foreldrene, and en forelder?

These are related forms:

• en forelder = a parent (singular, indefinite)
• foreldre = parents (plural, indefinite, no article)
• foreldrene = the parents (plural, definite)

Norwegian very often uses the definite ending instead of a separate word like “the”, so the meaning of “the” is built into -en / -a / -et / -ene endings.

Why is it har tillit til and not just a single verb for “trust”?

Norwegian does have a verb for “trust” (å stole på), but tillit is a noun meaning “trust / confidence.”

• å ha tillit til = to have trust in, to have confidence in
• å stole på = to trust, to rely on

In this sentence, Norwegian chooses a noun phrase (“have trust”) instead of a simple verb, but the meaning is the same idea: the parents trust the teacher.

What is the difference between har tillit til and stoler på?

Both can often be translated as “(to) trust.”

• Foreldrene har tillit til læreren.
  – The parents have trust in the teacher / trust the teacher.
  – Slightly more formal, often used in written language, official contexts, about confidence in someone’s role or abilities.

• Foreldrene stoler på læreren.
  – The parents trust the teacher.
  – Feels a bit more direct and verbal, more everyday in tone.

In many situations you can use either, but har tillit til often sounds a bit more institutional or formal.

Why is the preposition til used with tillit?

The combination tillit til is basically a fixed collocation in Norwegian:

• tillit til noen/noe = trust in someone/something

So you say:

• tillit til læreren – trust in the teacher
• tillit til systemet – trust in the system
• tillit til politiet – trust in the police

You would not normally say tillit på or tillit for; the natural preposition here is til.

Why is there no article in front of tillit?

Tillit is an uncountable noun in this meaning, like “trust” in English.
You normally don’t say en tillit here.

So Norwegian says:

• har tillit – have trust
  similar to English “have trust” or “have confidence,” not “have a trust” in this context.

You only add an article (like en) when you’re using tillit in a more concrete or special sense, which is much less common.

Why is læreren in the definite form? Could we say en lærer instead?

Læreren is the definite singular form: “the teacher.”

• en lærer = a teacher (indefinite, any teacher)
• læreren = the teacher (definite, a specific teacher they all know)

In the sentence Foreldrene har tillit til læreren, it sounds like everyone knows which teacher is meant (for example, their child’s teacher).
If you said til en lærer, it would sound like “to some teacher or other,” not a specific one.

What exactly does the ending -en on læreren show?

The ending -en is the masculine definite singular ending in Bokmål.

• en lærer = a teacher
• læreren = the teacher

So the -en works like “the” in English, but attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

Can I change the word order, for example Foreldrene har til læreren tillit?

No, that word order is not natural in Norwegian.
The normal order here is:

• Subject – Verb – Object – Prepositional phrase
  → Foreldrene (S) har (V) tillit (O) til læreren (prep. phrase).

You can move things for emphasis in some cases, but Foreldrene har til læreren tillit sounds wrong in standard Norwegian. The object tillit wants to stay directly after har.

How do I make this sentence negative?

To negate it, you put ikke after the verb har:

• Foreldrene har ikke tillit til læreren.
  = The parents do not have trust in the teacher.
  = The parents don’t trust the teacher.

Basic pattern: [Subject] + har + ikke + [rest].

How do I turn this into a yes–no question in Norwegian?

For a yes–no question, you move the verb har in front of the subject:

• Har foreldrene tillit til læreren?
  = Do the parents trust the teacher?

Pattern: Verb – Subject – Rest
→ Har + foreldrene + tillit til læreren?

How would I ask “Which teacher do the parents trust?” in Norwegian?

You use a question word and then regular verb–subject order:

• Hvilken lærer har foreldrene tillit til?
  Literally: Which teacher have the parents trust to?

Note that the preposition til stays with the verb phrase and ends up at the end of the sentence, which is normal in Norwegian.

How do I say this in the past tense: “The parents trusted the teacher”?

You just put har into the past tense hadde (imperfect of å ha):

• Foreldrene hadde tillit til læreren.
  = The parents had trust in the teacher / The parents trusted the teacher.

Everything else in the sentence stays the same.