De valgte heller å teipe igjen flytteesken enn å åpne den.

Heller ... enn means rather ... than.

So:

• De valgte heller å teipe igjen flytteesken enn å åpne den
• = They chose rather to tape the moving box shut than to open it
• more natural English: They chose to tape the moving box shut rather than open it

This pattern is very common in Norwegian:

• Jeg vil heller lese enn å se på TV = I’d rather read than watch TV
• Hun gikk heller enn å kjøre = She walked rather than drove

In everyday Norwegian, heller often comes before the first option, and enn introduces the second.

Valgte is the preterite/past tense of velge (to choose).

• velge = to choose
• velger = choose / am choosing / chooses
• valgte = chose
• har valgt = have/has chosen

So De valgte ... means They chose ...

The sentence is simply telling us about a completed action in the past.

Because both verbs are in the infinitive:

• å teipe = to tape
• å åpne = to open

After velge (to choose), Norwegian commonly uses å + infinitive:

• Hun valgte å dra = She chose to leave
• Vi valgte å vente = We chose to wait

So here:

• valgte å teipe igjen ...
• ... enn å åpne den

English also uses the infinitive here: chose to tape ... rather than to open it. In natural English, the second to is often dropped, but in Norwegian å is very normal in both parts.

Here, teipe igjen means to tape shut or to seal up with tape.

Even though igjen often means again, it can also mean shut/closed/up in certain expressions, especially with verbs involving closing or covering something.

So in this sentence:

• teipe igjen flytteesken = tape the moving box shut

Compare:

• lukke igjen døren = close the door
• sy igjen hullet = sew up the hole
• lime igjen konvolutten = glue the envelope shut

So this is not tape again. It is tape shut.

Flytteesken is a compound noun:

• flytte- = moving
• eske = box
• esken = the box

So flytteesken means the moving box or the cardboard box used for moving.

Norwegian very often forms long compound nouns like this. English usually writes them as separate words, but Norwegian usually joins them into one word.

Other examples:

• postkasse = mailbox
• barnerom = children’s room / child’s room
• flyttebil = moving truck

Because Norwegian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun as a suffix.

• en eske = a box
• esken = the box

So:

• en flytteeske = a moving box
• flytteesken = the moving box

That means the -en already includes the meaning of the.

Den means it here, and it refers back to flytteesken.

So:

• å åpne den = to open it

Since flytteesken is a common-gender noun (en flytteeske), the pronoun is den.

Compare:

• en bil → den
• et hus → det

So the sentence avoids repeating the noun:

• ... enn å åpne flytteesken
• or ... enn å åpne den

Both are possible, but den sounds more natural once the box has already been mentioned.

Technically, De with a capital D can be an old-fashioned or very formal way to say you in Norwegian. However, that is not what is happening here.

Here, De is capitalized simply because it starts the sentence. So it should be understood as:

• de = they

If this word appeared in the middle of the sentence, it would be written de.

The structure is built around the contrast:

• first option: å teipe igjen flytteesken
• second option: å åpne den

And heller ... enn ... connects them:

• heller marks the preferred option
• enn introduces the rejected alternative

So the sentence literally follows this pattern:

• They chose rather [to tape the moving box shut] than [to open it].

This is a normal Norwegian way to organize the sentence.

It can sometimes move a little, but teipe igjen flytteesken is a very natural order.

You may also hear or see:

• teipe flytteesken igjen

Both can work, but they can feel slightly different in rhythm or emphasis. In many cases, short particles like igjen appear right after the verb, especially in dictionary-like expressions such as lime igjen, lukke igjen, spikre igjen, teipe igjen.

So for a learner, teipe igjen flytteesken is a very good pattern to remember.

Yes. Teipe is a normal modern Norwegian verb meaning to tape.

It comes from teip = tape.

Examples:

• Jeg må teipe pakken = I need to tape the package
• Han teipet plakaten til veggen = He taped the poster to the wall

In this sentence, teipe igjen specifically means tape shut.

Yes, absolutely.

Both are grammatical:

• ... enn å åpne flytteesken
• ... enn å åpne den

Using den sounds more natural because the noun has already been mentioned. Norwegian, like English, often prefers a pronoun instead of repeating the same noun immediately.

So åpne den is the smoother, more natural choice here.

Yes—mainly two things:

1. heller ... enn = rather than
2. teipe igjen = tape shut, where igjen does not mean again

Those are the two parts most likely to confuse an English speaker if they translate word-for-word.

A very natural way to understand the whole sentence is:

• They chose to tape the moving box shut rather than open it.

That captures both the grammar and the idiomatic meaning well.