Breakdown of De skal avlese strømmåleren.
skal
shall
de
they
strømmåleren
the electricity meter
avlese
to read (a meter)
Questions & Answers about De skal avlese strømmåleren.
Does De mean they or you here?
At the beginning of a sentence, De can look ambiguous, because both de (they) and formal De (you) are capitalized there.
So you have to use the translation or the context to know which one it is.
A useful note:
- de = they
- De = very formal/polite you
In modern everyday Norwegian, formal De is uncommon, so de = they is usually the more common reading unless the context is clearly formal.
What is the basic grammar structure of this sentence?
It follows a very common Norwegian pattern:
Subject + finite verb + infinitive + object
So here:
- De = subject
- skal = finite verb / modal verb
- avlese = infinitive
- strømmåleren = object
This is quite close to English word order in a simple main clause.
What does skal mean here?
Skal often means something like:
- will
- shall
- are going to
- are supposed to
- must or need to, depending on context
In a sentence like this, it usually suggests a planned action or an instruction. So the feeling is often something like are going to read the meter or are supposed to read the meter.