Frykten gjør ham paranoid.

to make (to cause)

Breakdown of Frykten gjør ham paranoid.

• ham: him
• frykten: the fear
• paranoid: paranoid

Questions & Answers about Frykten gjør ham paranoid.

Why is it frykten and not just frykt?

Frykten is the definite form of frykt (fear).

• frykt = fear
• frykten = the fear

In this sentence, frykten refers to a specific fear, or fear as something already known in the context: the fear makes him paranoid.

If you said Frykt gjør ham paranoid, it would sound more general: Fear makes him paranoid. That is also possible, but it is slightly different in meaning.

Why is it ham and not han?

Because ham is the object form of the pronoun, while han is the subject form.

• han = he
• ham = him

In Frykten gjør ham paranoid, the fear is doing something to him, so Norwegian uses the object form ham.

Compare:

• Han er paranoid. = He is paranoid.
• Frykten gjør ham paranoid. = The fear makes him paranoid.

In modern spoken Norwegian, many people often use han instead of ham in object position too, but ham is still fully correct and often appears in writing.

What does gjør mean here?