De liker å prute.

to

Breakdown of De liker å prute.

• like: to like
• de: they
• prute: to bargain; haggle

Questions & Answers about De liker å prute.

What does De mean in this sentence?

De can mean two different things in Norwegian, depending on context:

• they
• you in a very formal/polite sense

So De liker å prute. can mean either:

• They like to haggle
• You like to haggle (formal, old-fashioned, or very polite)

In modern everyday Norwegian, the formal you use of De is much less common than it used to be. Most of the time, people just use du for you.

Because De is at the beginning of the sentence, it is capitalized anyway, so you need context to know which meaning is intended.

Why is De capitalized?

It is capitalized for one of two possible reasons:

• It is the first word of the sentence, so it must be capitalized.
• In some writing, De with a capital D can also mark the formal/polite you.

That means this sentence is a little ambiguous by itself.

If the word appeared in the middle of a sentence:

• de usually means they
• De may mean formal you

In modern Norwegian, many people avoid De as formal you altogether, so context is very important.

Why is it liker and not ?