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Learn Hardcore Norwegian: De truer familien. - They threaten the family.

Hardcore Norwegian
/Taking a bicycle in for repair
/De truer familien.

De truer familien.

De truer familien.

They threaten the family.

Breakdown of De truer familien.

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Questions & Answers about De truer familien.

What does de mean here?

Here, de means they.

So De truer familien = They are threatening the family / They threaten the family.

A useful extra note: because De is at the beginning of the sentence, it is capitalized. That does not automatically mean anything special here.

Could De mean formal you instead of they?

It can in some contexts, but probably not here.

In older or very formal Norwegian, De with a capital D could be used as a polite form of you, similar to old-fashioned formal address in some European languages. But in modern everyday Norwegian, that usage is rare.

In this sentence, the capital D is most naturally just there because it is the first word in the sentence. So learners should usually read De truer familien as They are threatening the family.

What does truer mean, and is it related to tro?

Truer is the present tense of å true, which means to threaten.

So:

å true = to threaten
truer = threaten / are threatening

This is different from å tro, which means to believe.

That distinction is important because the words look similar:

De tror familien. would not normally mean the same thing.
De truer familien. = They threaten the family.

So be careful not to confuse tro and true.

Why is it truer and not just true?

Because truer is the present tense form.

The infinitive is:

å true = to threaten

The present tense is:

truer = threatens / threaten / is threatening / are threatening

Norwegian present tense often covers both the simple present and the progressive meaning that English separates:

De truer familien can mean They threaten the family or They are threatening the family, depending on context.

Why is it familien and not familie?

Because familien is the definite singular form, meaning the family.

In Norwegian, definiteness is often shown by adding an ending to the noun:

en familie = a family
familien = the family

So in this sentence:

De truer familien = They are threatening the family

This is one of the big differences from English: Norwegian often puts the onto the end of the noun instead of using a separate word.

Why is there no separate word for the before familien?

Because Norwegian usually expresses the by attaching it to the noun.

So instead of saying something like the family with a separate article, Norwegian uses:

familien

This ending already includes the idea of the.

Compare:

en familie = a family
familien = the family

What is the word order in this sentence?

The word order is the basic Norwegian main-clause pattern:

subject + verb + object

So:

De = subject
truer = verb
familien = object

This is very similar to English word order in a simple statement:

They threaten the family

So for an English speaker, the structure here is quite straightforward.

Does this sentence mean They threaten the family or They are threatening the family?

It can mean either one, depending on context.

Norwegian present tense often covers both meanings that English expresses in two different ways:

They threaten the family
They are threatening the family

Without more context, De truer familien could be understood as either a general statement or something happening now.

How do you pronounce de truer familien?

A rough guide for an English speaker is:

de ≈ dee or sometimes softer depending on dialect
truer ≈ TROO-er
familien ≈ fa-MEE-lee-en

A few helpful notes:

truer has two vowel parts because it comes from true
familien usually has four syllables: fa-mi-li-en

Pronunciation varies by dialect, but that rough version will help you recognize and say the sentence.

Is familien singular or plural?

It is singular.

familien = the family (singular)

Even though family refers to several people, the noun itself is grammatically singular here, just like in English.

If you wanted the plural the families, that would be different:

familiene = the families

So:

De truer familien = They are threatening the family
not They are threatening the families

Is there any case marking here, like in German?

No, not in this sentence.

Modern Norwegian has very little case marking on nouns. Familien does not change because it is the object in the way a noun might in German or some other languages.

You understand the role of each word mainly from:

word order
the verb
context

So familien is the object because it comes after the verb in this normal statement pattern, not because it has a special object-case ending.

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