trodde

Trodde is the standard past tense form of the Norwegian verb tro, meaning to believe or to think. It is used to describe a belief or assumption that existed in the past, including cases where the belief later proved incorrect or changed.

The verb tro originates from Old Norse trúa and is cognate with related forms in other Scandinavian languages. In Norwegian, the form trodde is the common Bokmål past tense, while in Nynorsk a closely related past-tense form such as trudde is often used. Across Norwegian varieties, trod­de or similar variants reflect the same basic meaning of “believed.”

Usage notes help distinguish tenses and nuance. Trodde typically conveys a completed belief at a specific time in the past, rather than a current belief. It can appear in both direct statements, such as Jeg trodde jeg hadde husket nøklene (“I thought I had remembered the keys”), and in reported speech or recollections. The construction is common in everyday speech and writing, and its meaning shifts with context, from an honest belief to a mistaken one.

Cognates appear in other Scandinavian languages. In Swedish, the past tense of tro is trodde, and Danish uses troede, both with the same basic meaning of “believed.” This cross-language similarity reflects shared roots in the broader Germanic language family.