Fortalte

Fortalte is the simple past tense form of the Norwegian verb fortelle, meaning to tell or narrate. In Bokmål, fortelle has the past tense fortalte; in Nynorsk, the corresponding past tense is fortalde. The form is used to express that someone told something in the past. The present tense is forteller, and the perfect tense is har fortalt.

Conjugation (preterite) in Bokmål: jeg fortalte, du fortalte, han/hun fortalte, vi fortalte, dere fortalte, de fortalte. The present tense is forteller and the passive or perfect forms include har fortalt. In Nynorsk, equivalents are fortalde (past) and fortalar (present).

Usage and notes: Fortalte is common in narrative prose, journalism, and everyday speech to recount events, stories, or statements that occurred in the past. It is frequently used in reported speech, for example to convey what someone said in the past. The form is compatible with standard Norwegian syntax for both direct and indirect quotation. In written Norwegian, fortalte often appears in past-tense narration and can be shifted in indirect speech depending on style and tense sequence.