De ble rike.

Here it means they.

The word is capitalized simply because it is the first word in the sentence: De ble rike.

A native English speaker may have seen De used as a very formal way to say you in Norwegian, but that is rare in modern everyday language. In this sentence, the normal reading is definitely they.

• de = they
• sentence-initial De = still they, unless the context clearly shows formal you

Ble is the past tense of bli.

In this sentence, bli means to become, so:

• bli = to become
• ble = became

So De ble rike means They became rich.

This is a very common irregular verb:

• å bli = to become
• blir = become / becomes / is becoming
• ble = became
• har blitt = have/has become

Because the subject De is plural, and the adjective agrees with it.

The base adjective is rik = rich.
When it describes a plural subject, it becomes rike.

Compare:

• Han er rik. = He is rich.
• Hun er rik. = She is rich.
• De er rike. = They are rich.

The same agreement happens after ble:

• Han ble rik. = He became rich.
• De ble rike. = They became rich.

So -e here marks plural adjective agreement.

Because rike is being used as a predicative adjective.

That means it comes after a verb like er or ble and describes the subject directly.

So:

• De ble rike. = They became rich.

Here, rike is not attached to a noun like rike mennesker (rich people).
Instead, it describes De.

This works just like in English:

• They became rich.
• She is happy.
• We are tired.

Norwegian does this in the same way.

It means they became rich, not they were rich.

That is because ble is the past tense of bli (become).

Compare:

• De var rike. = They were rich.
• De ble rike. = They became rich.

So var describes a state in the past, while ble shows a change into that state.

Yes. In many contexts, bli can be translated as become or get, depending on what sounds most natural in English.

So De ble rike could be understood as:

• They became rich
• They got rich

Both are natural English translations.
If you are learning the core meaning, become is the safest one to remember.

Because this is a basic Norwegian main clause:

• Subject: De
• Verb: ble
• Adjective/complement: rike

So the pattern is:

Subject + verb + complement

That gives:

De ble rike.

This is very similar to English:

They became rich.

There is nothing unusual about the word order in this sentence.

Usually, yes. Rik most often means rich in the sense of having a lot of money or wealth.

So De ble rike normally means They became wealthy.

However, in some contexts rik can be used more broadly, such as in expressions about something being rich in flavor, culture, nutrients, and so on. But in a sentence like this, with no extra context, the natural meaning is financial wealth.

Here are the most useful comparisons:

• Han ble rik. = He became rich.
• Hun ble rik. = She became rich.
• Det ble rikt. = It became rich or rich in something (much less common in this exact sense)

And the plural:

• De ble rike. = They became rich.

This shows the adjective agreement clearly:

• singular common gender: rik
• singular neuter: rikt
• plural: rike

A simple learner-friendly approximation is:

deh bleh REE-keh

A few notes:

• De sounds roughly like deh
• ble sounds roughly like bleh
• rike has two syllables: REE-keh

The r sound varies depending on dialect, so do not worry too much if your r is not perfect yet. The most important thing is recognizing the words and the grammar:

• De = they
• ble = became
• rike = rich (plural)