De skilles her.

Here, de means they.

A useful extra note: in standard written Bokmål, de is the subject form, while dem is the object form.

• De skilles her. = They separate / are separated here.
• Jeg ser dem. = I see them.

Also, lowercase de is important here. Capital De can be a very formal or old-fashioned way of saying you, but that is not what is happening in this sentence.

Because skilles is the -s form of the verb, which often gives a passive or middle/reflexive-like meaning.

From the verb å skille:

• skiller = active present: separates / distinguish(es)
• skilles = passive or middle-style form: is separated / separate(s) from each other / part

So:

• De skiller her would sound like They separate something here or They distinguish here, which is not the intended meaning.
• De skilles her means that they themselves are being separated or they part ways here, depending on context.

Usually, yes — or at least passive-like.

In Norwegian, the -s ending can be used in a few related ways:

1. Passive
   • Døren åpnes. = The door is opened.
2. Mutual/reciprocal or middle meaning
   • De møtes. = They meet.
   • De skilles. = They separate / part.

So in De skilles her, the idea may be:

• They are separated here, or
• They part here / go their separate ways here

The exact nuance depends on context.

Because Norwegian can build that meaning directly into the verb.

English often uses:

• be + past participle → are separated

Norwegian often uses:

• -s passive → skilles

So De skilles her already contains that passive-like meaning. Norwegian does not need a separate are in this structure.

A more explicit alternative would be:

• De blir skilt her.

That also means They are separated here, but it uses blir instead of the -s form.

Not always. Å skilles can be used in several related ways, including:

• to separate
• to part
• to go different ways
• to break up
• to divorce in some contexts

So De skilles her could mean different things depending on the situation, for example:

• two people part ways at this point
• two groups are separated here
• two roads or paths divide here, if de refers to something non-human in context
• a couple separates, in a broader emotional or legal sense

Without context, the sentence is somewhat open.

Her means here as a location.

Norwegian distinguishes between:

• her = here, in this place
• hit = to here, toward this place

So:

• De skilles her. = They separate here.
• If you used hit, it would suggest movement toward this place, which does not fit this sentence.

This is similar to the difference between where something is and where something is going.

Because that is a very normal word order in Norwegian.

The basic pattern here is:

• De = subject
• skilles = verb
• her = adverb of place

So the sentence follows a simple main-clause order: subject + verb + adverb

You can move her to the front for emphasis:

• Her skilles de.

That is also correct, but then Norwegian uses verb-second word order, so the verb still comes right after the first element.

The difference is mainly about emphasis:

• De skilles her. = neutral
• Her skilles de. = emphasis on here

Formally, yes: skilles is a present-tense form.

But like English, Norwegian present tense can sometimes express more than one time meaning, depending on context:

• something happening now
• something that regularly happens
• something planned or understood as a general fact

So De skilles her could mean:

• they are separating here now
• this is where they usually part
• this is the point where they will part, if the context is about a plan or route

The exact time reference comes from context, not only from the verb form.

A careful approximation is:

• de ≈ dee
• skilles ≈ SHIL-les
• her ≈ hair with a Norwegian-style r

A few pronunciation notes:

• In skilles, the sk before i is pronounced like sh.
• The i is short.
• The final -es is clearly pronounced; it is not silent.

As always with Norwegian, pronunciation varies by dialect, but that approximation is a good starting point.