Mange ansatte er med i fagforeningen.

Many employees are in the union.

Breakdown of Mange ansatte er med i fagforeningen.

• ansatt: the employee
• mange: many
• fagforeningen: the trade union
• være med i: to be in

Questions & Answers about Mange ansatte er med i fagforeningen.

Why is it mange here, and not mye?

Mange is used with countable nouns in the plural, like ansatte (employees).
Mye is used with uncountable or mass nouns.

• mange ansatte = many employees (you can count them)
• mye tid = much time (you don’t count individual units in the same way)

So with a plural countable noun (ansatte), you must use mange, not mye.

Why does ansatte end in -e and not -er, like many other plural nouns?

Ansatt is originally an adjective meaning employed. It is very often used as a noun meaning employee.

Adjectives that are used as nouns follow adjective patterns, not regular noun patterns:

• singular: en ansatt (one employee)
• plural: ansatte (employees)

So you get ansatte, not ansatter or ansattere. The -e ending is the regular plural ending for adjectives, which carries over when the adjective is used as a noun.

Is ansatte plural or definite here? How can I tell?

In Mange ansatte er med i fagforeningen, ansatte is indefinite plural:

• There is no article like de in front of it.
• mange normally combines with an indefinite plural noun.

The full pattern for ansatt as a noun is:

• indefinite singular: en ansatt
• definite singular: den ansatte
• indefinite plural: ansatte
• definite plural: de ansatte

So mange ansatte = many employees (in general), while de ansatte = the employees (a specific group).

What is the difference between ansatt and words like arbeider or arbeidstaker?

All three can refer to people who work, but there are nuances:

• ansatt: literally employed; focuses on the fact that someone is hired by an employer. Very common in general talk about people who work in a company, institution, etc.
• arbeider: literally worker; can sound a bit more manual-labour oriented or more political/historical (e.g. arbeiderklassen = the working class), though it is also neutral in many contexts.
• arbeidstaker: literally work-taker; a legal/administrative term contrasting with arbeidsgiver (employer). More formal and often used in laws, contracts, etc.

In an everyday sentence about union membership in a workplace, ansatte is the most natural.

What does the phrase er med i mean exactly, and why do we need both med and i?

Er med i literally means is/are along in or is/are with in, but idiomatically it means to be part of, to participate in, or to belong to.

The parts:

• er = is/are
• med = with
• i = in

In many contexts, være med i X means to be a member of / to take part in X:

• Hun er med i koret. = She is in the choir / She sings in the choir.
• Han er med i styret. = He is on the board.

So er med i fagforeningen naturally means are members of the union.

Could you say Mange ansatte er i fagforeningen instead? Does it change the meaning?

You can say Mange ansatte er i fagforeningen, and it will be understood, but:

• er med i fagforeningen is the most idiomatic way to express membership.
• er i fagforeningen can sound a bit more static or location-like, almost as if they are in the union as a place, rather than taking part in it.

Norwegians strongly prefer være med i or være medlem av when they talk about being in a group or organization:

• Mange ansatte er med i fagforeningen.
• Mange ansatte er medlem av fagforeningen.

Both clearly express membership.

Why is fagforeningen in the definite form? Why not Mange ansatte er med i en fagforening?

Using the definite form fagforeningen suggests a specific, known union:

• probably the union at that particular workplace, or
• the union that is contextually clear to both speaker and listener.

Norwegian often uses the definite form when talking about something that is unique in that context:

• Barna er i hagen. = The children are in the (known/family) garden.
• Mange ansatte er med i fagforeningen. = Many employees are members of the (relevant/known) union.

If you say Mange ansatte er med i en fagforening, it means many employees are in a union, but it sounds more general and less tied to one particular, shared union.

How is the word fagforeningen built up, and what does each part mean?

Fagforeningen consists of three parts:

• fag = subject, field, profession, or trade (here: trade/profession)
• forening = association, society, union
• -en = the definite singular ending for common-gender nouns

So:

• fagforening = a (trade) union
• fagforeningen = the (trade) union

Literally, it is the professional association, but in normal use it means the (trade) union.

What is the grammatical gender of fagforening, and how do its main forms look?

Fagforening is a common-gender noun (en-word).

Main forms:

• indefinite singular: en fagforening (a union)
• definite singular: fagforeningen (the union)
• indefinite plural: fagforeninger (unions)
• definite plural: fagforeningene (the unions)

In the sentence, we have the definite singular: fagforeningen.

Is there another common way to express this idea in Norwegian, using a different word than er med i?

Yes, two very common alternatives are:

1. Using fagorganisert (unionized):

   • Mange ansatte er fagorganiserte.
   • literally: Many employees are unionized.

2. Using medlem av (member of):

   • Mange ansatte er medlem av fagforeningen.
   • plural agreement is often not shown on medlem; many speakers say er medlem av even with a plural subject.

All of these are natural:

• Mange ansatte er med i fagforeningen.
• Mange ansatte er fagorganiserte.
• Mange ansatte er medlem av fagforeningen.

They all convey that many employees belong to the union.