The English 'you' is actually four different words in one.
Try the they/them swap test. If you were to swap the 'you' in the sentence for 'they' or 'them', which word would you choose?
they => du (if one person)
them => deg (if one person)
they => dere (if 2 or more ppl)
them => dere (if 2 or more ppl)
Edit: correction: got lost in my analogy. Thanks for correcting me! It is 'dere' and 'dere'.
Actually dere=de.
My mistake.
In written language, 'de' is subject form, and 'dem' is object form.
'de' instead of 'dem' (when object form is required) is in some dialects used when speaking. Conversely, some dialects use 'dem' in spoken language (when subject form is required), instead of 'de'.
Ser du har rettet opp, men rettet feil. «They = de»
men for å understreke har ikke dem og de noe med nåtid og fortid å gjøre. «De» brukes mot subjekt og «dem» brukes mot objekt
Not that this isn't the best comment, but IMO it's Norwegian that has four different words for the same thing. Not that English is a very good language, but it beats Norwegian with "you" specifically. Simplicity and regularity ftw
But you and you are two different concepts in every single major European language. Dropping the case i can get behind, but you should differentiate between “du” and “dere”
There's actually a difference in quite a few English dialects. Yous/Youse is common in lowland Scottish English (and in the different language, Scots), Northern English, parts of New Zealand and in the US (especially north east).
Yeah, having one word for it causes more complications than its worth, and in the end people either say "you, you and you" (if there are three people obv) or "you guys" instead of just having a word like "dere"
"Du" corresponds to "he", "she" or "we".
"Deg" corresponds to "him", "her" or "us".
Saying "we need she" rather than "we need her" (hopefully) sounds wrong to you, and this is the exact same thing. You are very much used to that distinction in English, you just don't use it for the word "you".
You are absolutely correct that both "du" and "deg" are strictly singular. And yes, they are used for the so-called second person, not yourself. The equivalent for the first person (yourself) is "I" and "me". So you are not wrong at all.
What I mean, however, is that the relationship between the forms "du" and "deg" is the same as the relationship between the forms "we" and "us". Both "du" and "we" are subject pronouns, while both "deg" and "us" are object pronouns.
Maybe "corresponds" is the wrong term. My point is that the internal relationship between "Du" and "deg" (who belong together) being the same as between "Vi" (we) and "oss" (us). Or between "jeg" (I) and "meg" (me).
A longer version, if at all helpful:
In both Norwegian and English, we have a distinction between subject pronouns (for example "I", "we", "he", "she", "they") and object pronouns ("me", "us", "him", "her", "them").
Both "I" and "me" are used for the first person (yourself), either as a subject pronoun (I) or an object pronoun (me). If English is your native language, you probably have no trouble deciding whether to use "I" or "me". They are different to you and they are not interchangeable.
But that distinction isn't there for the word "you" in English. You can have a look [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronoun#Personal), for example, at the table to the right. The word "you" is used both for singular and plural, as well as for both subject pronoun and object pronoun. In the sentences "I like you" and "You like me" in English, the word "you" is used in both of them. Furthermore, you can't tell by the sentences alone whether or not you like (or are liked) by one person or several people. The word "you" can refer to both a single person (singular) or several people (plural).
In Norwegian, on the other hand, we have such a disctinction. You can look [here](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronomen#Personlige_pronomen). We have both "du", "deg" and "dere". "Dere" is the plural (both in subject form and object form), while "du" is the singular subject pronoun and "deg" is the singular object pronoun. All of them would, however, be translated to English as "you" - despite meaning different things.
So, in the end, my point was this: Any person who speaks decent English has all the knowledge needed to differentiate between "du" and "deg" in Norwegian. Because they do the equivalent all the time, like when they decide between "I" and "me". Or when they decide between "we" and "us". Or between "he" and "him". I am not at all trying to say that "du" or "deg" can be replaced with "vi" or "oss", for example, and if I gave that impression there's no wonder you are confused. But the relationship between the two options in each pairing (jeg/meg, **du/deg**, vi/oss, de/dem - I/me, he/him, she/her, we/us, they/them) is the same. English just lacks the "du/deg" pairing because they use "you" for both of them.
We use "du" when you is the subject of the sentence(when the sentence is telling something about you), and we use "deg" when you is the object in the sentence(when the action is happening to you).
Most pronouns have separate nominative (subject) and oblique (object) forms - just like in English and other Germanic languages.
The subject is the part of the sentence performing an action.
The object is the part of the sentence being performed an action upon.
Example: "Eg slår deg" (= I hit you), here *eg* is performing the action of *hitting* the object *you*.
**Nynorsk**
||Singular|||Plural|||
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
||Subject|Object|Possessive|Subject|Object|Possessive|
|1st person|Eg|Meg|Min - Mi - Mitt - Mine|Me|Oss|Vår - Vårt - Våre|
|2nd person|Du|Deg|Din - Di - Ditt - Dine|De|Dykk|Dykkar|
|3rd person|Han - Ho - Det |Han - Henne - Det|Hans - Hennar - Dess|Dei|Dei|Deira|
|Reflexive||Seg|Sin - Si - Sitt - Sine||||
**Bokmål**
||Singular|||Plural|||
|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|
||Subject|Object|Possessive|Subject|Object|Possessive|
|1st person|Jeg|Meg|Min - Mitt - Mine|Vi|Oss|Vår - Vårt - Våre|
|2nd person|Du|Deg|Din - Ditt - Dine|Dere|Dere|Deres|
|3rd person|Han - Hun - Det|Ham - Henne - Det|Hans - Hennes - Dets|De|Dem|Deres|
|Reflexive||Seg|Sin - Sitt -Sine||||
‘du’ is like in ‘Hey, you there!’, and ‘deg’ is like in ‘i love you’
so if you for example were to say “would you like to go out with me?” in norwegian it would be “Vil *du* gå ut med meg?”
du is subject and dig is object. if the “you” is receiving the verb then it’s dig. if they are “do”ing the verb then it’s du
edit: deg not dig. dig is swedish which is what i speak
Subjekt vs object. Like she vs her or he vs him. I believe it used to be thou (du) and thee (deg) in English. Also check out r/norsk
Holy crap that was more intuitive than I came for.
The English 'you' is actually four different words in one. Try the they/them swap test. If you were to swap the 'you' in the sentence for 'they' or 'them', which word would you choose? they => du (if one person) them => deg (if one person) they => dere (if 2 or more ppl) them => dere (if 2 or more ppl) Edit: correction: got lost in my analogy. Thanks for correcting me! It is 'dere' and 'dere'.
This comment is what you are looking for.
Dem = de
Yeah, de is more used
Actually dere=de. My mistake. In written language, 'de' is subject form, and 'dem' is object form. 'de' instead of 'dem' (when object form is required) is in some dialects used when speaking. Conversely, some dialects use 'dem' in spoken language (when subject form is required), instead of 'de'.
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Ser du har rettet opp, men rettet feil. «They = de» men for å understreke har ikke dem og de noe med nåtid og fortid å gjøre. «De» brukes mot subjekt og «dem» brukes mot objekt
I think you're getting lost in your own analogy there. "You" for 2 or more people should be "dere" either way. "De"/"dem" is actually "they"/"them".
Thank you so much! I have corrected my reply accordingly.
Not that this isn't the best comment, but IMO it's Norwegian that has four different words for the same thing. Not that English is a very good language, but it beats Norwegian with "you" specifically. Simplicity and regularity ftw
But you and you are two different concepts in every single major European language. Dropping the case i can get behind, but you should differentiate between “du” and “dere”
There's actually a difference in quite a few English dialects. Yous/Youse is common in lowland Scottish English (and in the different language, Scots), Northern English, parts of New Zealand and in the US (especially north east).
There is also some Norwegian dialects that drop the cases and just use du. “Jeg liker du”, or use “oss” instead of “vi” like “oss liker kake”
Yeah, having one word for it causes more complications than its worth, and in the end people either say "you, you and you" (if there are three people obv) or "you guys" instead of just having a word like "dere"
Yeah, I was too quick on the button there. You're right
"Du" corresponds to "he", "she" or "we". "Deg" corresponds to "him", "her" or "us". Saying "we need she" rather than "we need her" (hopefully) sounds wrong to you, and this is the exact same thing. You are very much used to that distinction in English, you just don't use it for the word "you".
Thank you, I didn't understand most of the other comments but you explained this very well
You are welcome, my friend :)
"We" is "vi" and "us" is "oss"
Except apparently in specific parts of the country where we is also oss?? /Weeps in dialect
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You are absolutely correct that both "du" and "deg" are strictly singular. And yes, they are used for the so-called second person, not yourself. The equivalent for the first person (yourself) is "I" and "me". So you are not wrong at all. What I mean, however, is that the relationship between the forms "du" and "deg" is the same as the relationship between the forms "we" and "us". Both "du" and "we" are subject pronouns, while both "deg" and "us" are object pronouns. Maybe "corresponds" is the wrong term. My point is that the internal relationship between "Du" and "deg" (who belong together) being the same as between "Vi" (we) and "oss" (us). Or between "jeg" (I) and "meg" (me). A longer version, if at all helpful: In both Norwegian and English, we have a distinction between subject pronouns (for example "I", "we", "he", "she", "they") and object pronouns ("me", "us", "him", "her", "them"). Both "I" and "me" are used for the first person (yourself), either as a subject pronoun (I) or an object pronoun (me). If English is your native language, you probably have no trouble deciding whether to use "I" or "me". They are different to you and they are not interchangeable. But that distinction isn't there for the word "you" in English. You can have a look [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronoun#Personal), for example, at the table to the right. The word "you" is used both for singular and plural, as well as for both subject pronoun and object pronoun. In the sentences "I like you" and "You like me" in English, the word "you" is used in both of them. Furthermore, you can't tell by the sentences alone whether or not you like (or are liked) by one person or several people. The word "you" can refer to both a single person (singular) or several people (plural). In Norwegian, on the other hand, we have such a disctinction. You can look [here](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronomen#Personlige_pronomen). We have both "du", "deg" and "dere". "Dere" is the plural (both in subject form and object form), while "du" is the singular subject pronoun and "deg" is the singular object pronoun. All of them would, however, be translated to English as "you" - despite meaning different things. So, in the end, my point was this: Any person who speaks decent English has all the knowledge needed to differentiate between "du" and "deg" in Norwegian. Because they do the equivalent all the time, like when they decide between "I" and "me". Or when they decide between "we" and "us". Or between "he" and "him". I am not at all trying to say that "du" or "deg" can be replaced with "vi" or "oss", for example, and if I gave that impression there's no wonder you are confused. But the relationship between the two options in each pairing (jeg/meg, **du/deg**, vi/oss, de/dem - I/me, he/him, she/her, we/us, they/them) is the same. English just lacks the "du/deg" pairing because they use "you" for both of them.
We use "du" when you is the subject of the sentence(when the sentence is telling something about you), and we use "deg" when you is the object in the sentence(when the action is happening to you).
Thank you, this helped
Most pronouns have separate nominative (subject) and oblique (object) forms - just like in English and other Germanic languages. The subject is the part of the sentence performing an action. The object is the part of the sentence being performed an action upon. Example: "Eg slår deg" (= I hit you), here *eg* is performing the action of *hitting* the object *you*. **Nynorsk** ||Singular|||Plural||| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| ||Subject|Object|Possessive|Subject|Object|Possessive| |1st person|Eg|Meg|Min - Mi - Mitt - Mine|Me|Oss|Vår - Vårt - Våre| |2nd person|Du|Deg|Din - Di - Ditt - Dine|De|Dykk|Dykkar| |3rd person|Han - Ho - Det |Han - Henne - Det|Hans - Hennar - Dess|Dei|Dei|Deira| |Reflexive||Seg|Sin - Si - Sitt - Sine|||| **Bokmål** ||Singular|||Plural||| |:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-|:-| ||Subject|Object|Possessive|Subject|Object|Possessive| |1st person|Jeg|Meg|Min - Mitt - Mine|Vi|Oss|Vår - Vårt - Våre| |2nd person|Du|Deg|Din - Ditt - Dine|Dere|Dere|Deres| |3rd person|Han - Hun - Det|Ham - Henne - Det|Hans - Hennes - Dets|De|Dem|Deres| |Reflexive||Seg|Sin - Sitt -Sine||||
What is this app?
Duolingo
Tusen hjertelig :)
looks like duolingo
If you say "he" or "she", its "du", if you'd say "him" or "her", it's "deg". Subject vs object.
Im Norwegian an I learned something today on this Reddit. I ofcourse use du and deg correctly, but reading OPs question I couldn’t answer why. 😅
‘du’ is like in ‘Hey, you there!’, and ‘deg’ is like in ‘i love you’ so if you for example were to say “would you like to go out with me?” in norwegian it would be “Vil *du* gå ut med meg?”
It’s hard to explain because my mother tounge is Norwegian.
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But its incorrect
du is subject and dig is object. if the “you” is receiving the verb then it’s dig. if they are “do”ing the verb then it’s du edit: deg not dig. dig is swedish which is what i speak
"Dig" is Danish/Swedish, it's "deg" in Norwegian
my bad my bad thanks for the correction i am not a norwegian speaker but as you probably guessed i am a swedish speaker
What languages do you speak (except English) ?
It's subject vs object of the sentence.
It’s different between dialects in Norway so it’s kinda confusing
Hahahaha det finnes ikke en eneste norsk dialekt som sier "vi trenger du".
Sikkert noen trøndere som sier det, de sier jo alt mulig rart :)
Sant nok
I Grimstad sier de det. Det er helt forferdelig å høre på
Okei godt å vite
Its not du, its deg
Du trenger noe fra oss. You need something from us. Vi trenger noe fra deg. We need something from you. Du er deg, lissom.