forhandles

Forhandles is the present passive form of the verb forhandle, used in Danish and Norwegian (bokmål and nynorsk) to mean that a negotiation is taking place or is being arranged. It describes negotiations conducted by unspecified parties or the process of negotiating, rather than naming the negotiator.

In practice, forhandles appears in formal and semi-formal contexts such as business deals, price negotiations, contract talks, labor agreements, and political negotiations. It emphasizes the action of negotiating and the ongoing nature of the discussion rather than the individuals involved. The active counterpart of forhandles is forhandler, the form used for a person who negotiates, or the verb forhandle in its active tense (parterne forhandler).

Grammatically, forhandles is a passive construction. It is commonly accompanied by a subject that is being negotiated or by the agents performing the negotiation remains unspecified. The corresponding past participle is forhandlet, used in perfect or pluperfect constructions to indicate that negotiations have taken place, for example, “Aftalen er forhandlet” (the agreement has been negotiated).

Related linguistic terms include forhandling (the noun meaning negotiation or bargaining), forhandlet (the past participle), and forhandler (a person who negotiates or, in some contexts, a dealer). The word is widely used in both Danish and Norwegian, with similar spelling and meaning in most contexts. In media and official communications, forhandles can appear in headlines or statements to indicate ongoing talks without naming the negotiating parties.

Overall, forhandles conveys a sense of active, ongoing negotiation and is a standard term in legal, commercial, and political discourse in Scandinavian languages.