De gjorde motstand.

they

Breakdown of De gjorde motstand.

• gjøre: to do
• motstanden: the resistance; opposition

Questions & Answers about De gjorde motstand.

What does De mean here? Is it they or the formal you?

It can be either in theory, but in modern Norwegian it will usually mean they.

A few useful points:

• de = they
• De can also be a very formal, old-fashioned way to say you
• In this sentence, De is capitalized anyway because it is the first word of the sentence, so the capital letter does not help you decide

So the real meaning depends on context. In most everyday modern Norwegian, a learner should first assume they unless the situation clearly involves very formal address.

What tense is gjorde?

Gjorde is the past tense of å gjøre (to do / to make).

So:

• gjøre = to do, to make
• gjør = do/does, am/is/are doing in some contexts
• gjorde = did

In this sentence, gjorde tells you the action happened in the past.

Why does Norwegian use gjøre here? It literally seems to mean did resistance.

That is because gjøre motstand is an established Norwegian expression meaning to resist or to offer resistance.

It is one of those cases where Norwegian uses a verb+noun combination where English often prefers a single verb.

So:

• gjøre motstand = resist / offer resistance

This is very natural Norwegian, even if the word-for-word structure feels unusual in English.