De møttes ved en tilfeldighet.

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Breakdown of De møttes ved en tilfeldighet.

• de: they
• møte: to meet
• ved: by

Questions & Answers about De møttes ved en tilfeldighet.

What does De mean here? Could it mean formal you?

Here De means they.

It is capitalized simply because it is the first word in the sentence. In older or very formal Norwegian, De can also mean formal you, but that usage is rare in modern everyday Norwegian. In this sentence, the normal reading is they.

Why is the verb møttes and not møtte?

Because the verb here is å møtes, which means to meet each other.

So:

• De møtte ham = they met him
• De møttes = they met each other

The -s form often gives the verb a reciprocal meaning here, so møttes is the natural choice when two or more people meet one another.

What is the dictionary form of møttes?

The dictionary form is å møtes.

In this sentence, møttes is the preterite (simple past) form:

• å møtes = to meet each other
• møtes = meet/are meeting
• møttes = met

Why doesn’t Norwegian need a separate word for each other here?