Questions & Answers about De vil oppnå målet.
Why is De capitalized, and does it mean they or formal you?
Because De is the first word of the sentence, it has to be capitalized anyway. So in this sentence, the capital D by itself does not tell you whether it means they or the formal you.
Only the context, or the translation you were given, tells you which meaning is intended.
A useful rule:
- de = they
- De = formal/polite you in very formal writing
But at the start of a sentence, both look like De, so you need context.
Is formal De still common in modern Norwegian?
Not very common. As a polite form of you, De sounds very formal, old-fashioned, or sometimes like customer-service language.
In everyday modern Norwegian, people usually say:
- du = you singular
- dere = you plural
So if De here means formal you, that is possible, but it is not the most typical everyday usage. If it means they, then it is completely normal.
What does vil mean here exactly?