Vi reiser nordover.

We travel northward.

Breakdown of Vi reiser nordover.

• vi: we
• reise: to travel
• nordover: northward

Questions & Answers about Vi reiser nordover.

Why is reiser in the present tense if the sentence can talk about a future trip?

In Norwegian, the present tense is very often used for planned or arranged future actions, just like in English when you say We’re leaving tomorrow.

So Vi reiser nordover can mean:

• We are travelling north
• We’re heading north
• We’re going north
• sometimes We’re travelling north soon / as planned

If you want to make the future idea more explicit, Norwegian can also use:

• Vi skal reise nordover = We are going to travel north

But the simple present is completely natural here.

What exactly does nordover mean?

Nordover means northward / northwards / to the north in the sense of movement in a northern direction.

It is built from:

• nord = north
• -over = part of an adverb that gives the sense of direction or movement

So nordover is not just north as a location; it suggests going in that direction.

Compare:

• i nord = in the north
• mot nord = toward the north
• nordover = northward / northwards

In this sentence, nordover works very naturally because the verb reiser involves movement.

Why isn’t there a preposition before nordover?