Fortellingens

Fortellingens is a grammatical form used in Norwegian to indicate possession relative to the noun fortelling, meaning "story" or "tale." It denotes that something belongs to or is associated with a particular story and corresponds to the English possessive "the story's" or the genitive of "the story."

It is formed from the noun fortelling in its definite form fortellingen, combined with the possessive suffix -s, yielding fortellingens. This structure is typical in Norwegian, Bokmål and Nynorsk. It appears in phrases such as Fortellingens tema, Fortellingens hovedperson, or Fortellingens synspunkt, often in academic or literary contexts.

Usage examples include constructions where the possessive refers to elements of a specific narrative: Fortellingens tema (the story's theme), Fortellingens struktur (the story's structure), or Fortellingens synspunkt (the story's perspective). The form helps foreground ownership or association with a particular tale and is common in literary analysis, summaries, and scholarly writing.

Cross-linguistic note: in related languages, similar possessive forms exist. In Swedish the equivalent is berättelsens and in Danish it is fortællingens, reflecting the shared Germanic heritage of the languages and their methods for expressing possession in narrative contexts.

See also: fortelling, fortellende, genitive, possessive constructions in Scandinavian languages.