Frykten gjør ham paranoid.

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.

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.

Here gjør means makes.

The verb gjøre often means to do, but in some structures it can also mean to make in the sense of causing a result.

So:

• gjør ham paranoid = makes him paranoid

This is similar to English:

• The noise makes me nervous
• Frykten gjør ham paranoid

So in this sentence, gjør is not just does. It expresses that fear causes him to become paranoid.

It follows a common pattern:

subject + gjør + object + adjective

So here:

• Frykten = subject
• gjør = makes
• ham = object
• paranoid = adjective describing the result

Literally, the structure is:

• The fear makes him paranoid

This is very similar to English grammar:

• It makes me tired
• This makes her happy
• Frykten gjør ham paranoid

Because after gjør in this kind of sentence, the adjective describes the object as a result state, and it usually stays in its basic form here.

So:

• gjør ham paranoid
• gjør henne sint
• gjør dem redde

With paranoid, the form is the same here. Many adjectives do not take any extra ending in this pattern when they describe the result of what happens to someone.

Also, paranoid is a loanword, and in practice it often appears unchanged in this kind of use.

Yes. In this sentence, paranoid is an adjective, just as in English.

It describes a mental state:

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

Because the word looks the same as in English, it is easy to recognize, but it still behaves as a Norwegian adjective here.

Yes, that is a very natural alternative.

• Frykten gjør ham paranoid. = The fear makes him paranoid.
• Han blir paranoid av frykten. = He becomes paranoid because of the fear / from the fear.

The two sentences are close in meaning, but the focus is a little different:

• Frykten gjør ham paranoid emphasizes the cause
• Han blir paranoid av frykten emphasizes the change happening to him

Both are good Norwegian.

Because this is a normal main clause in Norwegian.

The basic order is:

subject + verb + object + complement

So:

• Frykten = subject
• gjør = verb
• ham = object
• paranoid = complement

This is very similar to English word order in a simple statement, which makes the sentence relatively easy for English speakers.

Yes. Frykt is a general word for fear, usually in the emotional sense, but it can be used in many contexts.

Depending on the situation, frykten could mean:

• fear of something specific
• a general feeling of fear
• an ongoing fear already mentioned in the conversation

So without more context, frykten simply means the fear.

Yes, it is natural and grammatical.

It sounds like a fairly neutral written or spoken sentence, especially if the context has already introduced some particular fear.

A native speaker would understand it immediately as:

• fear is causing him to become paranoid

If there were no context, some speakers might more naturally choose:

• Frykt gjør ham paranoid
• Han blir paranoid av frykten

But Frykten gjør ham paranoid is absolutely normal Norwegian.