Fortelles

Fortelles is a Norwegian verb form meaning "is told" or "are told." It is the present passive indicative form of the verb fortelle, which means to tell or recount. The infinitive is å fortelle; the present active form is forteller; the simple past active is fortalte; the past passive is ble fortalt. Fortelles is used to convey information reported without specifying the agent.

In Bokmål and Nynorsk, fortelles appears in impersonal or passive constructions such as Det fortelles at historien er sann (It is told that the story is true). The doer of the telling can be omitted or introduced by a prepositional phrase, as in av kilden (by the source). This form is common in journalism, narrative prose, and academic writing when the emphasis is on the information rather than who tells it.

Fortelles is not a noun or a place name; it remains a grammatical form of the verb fortelle. For language learners, recognizing fortelles as the present passive form helps distinguish it from forteller (present active) and fortalte (past active). The present passive can also be used in broader, non-specific reporting, while the past passive would be ble fortalt to describe events that have already been told in the past.

See also: Norwegian language, fortelle, passive voice, det fortelles.