antall

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Etymology

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Formed by the word tall ("number", "digit") and the prefix an-, which is borrowed from Low German and is akin to Old Norse á ("on"). Cognate with German Anzahl and Danish and Swedish antal.

Noun

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antall n (definite singular antallet)

  1. number, amount; abstract entity used to describe quantity
    Folk møtte opp i stort antall på torget = a considerable number of people gathered at the square
    Fienden var overlegen i antall = the enemy had superior numbers
    Et antall sykler ble funnet gjenglemt i bakgården = a number of bikes were found left behind in the backyard
    Antallet ulykker er proporsjonalt med antallet kjøretøyer = the number of accidents corresponds to the number of vehicles

Usage notes

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The word is never declined in plural, only in definite and indefinite singular. When speaking of numerals, only the word tall is used, though it also can replace antall by saying: tallet på (due to -an-- mainly supplanting prepositions, such as , "on"). Note that antall is not allowed in Nynorsk, which uses tal and mengd instead.

Synonyms

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mengde (only in Bokmål), mengd (only in Nynorsk), tall (only in Bokmål)

Derived terms

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  • et betydelig antall = a considerable number, considerable numbers
  • et stort antall = a large number of