Questions & Answers about De pijl wijst naar de gang.
How would I change this sentence to say "The arrow points to it"?
You would say De pijl wijst ernaar. Because a hallway is a thing and not a person, you cannot use a normal pronoun and say naar het. Instead, the preposition naar combines with the locative er from this lesson to form the single word ernaar.
Why do we use naar here to mean "to" or "at"?
The verb wijzen (to point) fixedly pairs with the preposition naar when you are indicating a direction or pointing at a target. You will often see them together as wijzen naar.
Why does the letter 'z' in wijzen change to an 's' in wijst?
This is a standard Dutch spelling rule. The infinitive is wijzen. When you remove the -en to find the stem, you get wijz. Because Dutch syllables never end in a voiced z or v, it hardens into an s, making the stem wijs. You then add a -t for the "it" form to get wijst.
Does the word gang have any other common meanings?
Yes! While it means "hallway" or "corridor" here, it is also the word for a "course" in a meal. A three-course dinner, for instance, is called een driegangendiner.