Langsyntheten og astigmatismen sammenlignes.

Because both nouns are in the definite singular form.

• langsynthet = farsightedness / hyperopia

• langsyntheten = the farsightedness

• astigmatisme = astigmatism
• astigmatismen = the astigmatism

In Norwegian, definiteness is often shown by adding an ending to the noun, instead of using a separate word like English the.

So this sentence is talking about those two conditions as specific concepts: the farsightedness and the astigmatism.

Norwegian usually puts definiteness directly on the noun.

So instead of:

• English: the astigmatism
• Norwegian: astigmatismen

That is why you do not see a separate article before the noun here.

A separate article appears when there is an adjective:

• astigmatismen = the astigmatism
• den alvorlige astigmatismen = the serious astigmatism

This is a very common Norwegian pattern.

Langsynthet is built from the adjective langsynt, meaning farsighted, plus the noun-forming ending -het.

This -het ending works a lot like English -ness:

• sann → sannhet = true → truth
• fri → frihet = free → freedom
• langsynt → langsynthet = farsighted → farsightedness

So if you know the adjective, you can often recognize the related abstract noun.

The -s marks the passive voice.

• sammenligner = compares / is comparing
• sammenlignes = is compared / are compared

So Langsyntheten og astigmatismen sammenlignes means that the two things are being compared, rather than someone actively comparing them in the sentence.

This -s passive is common in Norwegian, especially in formal, academic, or written language.

It could be.

Norwegian has two common ways to make the passive:

• sammenlignes
• blir sammenlignet

Both can mean are compared.

The difference is mostly stylistic:

• sammenlignes often sounds a bit more compact, formal, or impersonal
• blir sammenlignet can sound a bit more explicit or natural in everyday usage

In a sentence like this, sammenlignes is perfectly normal and probably a little more typical of textbook or scientific style.

Because Norwegian verbs do not agree with the subject in number the way English verbs sometimes do.

In English, we distinguish:

• is compared
• are compared

In Norwegian, the verb form stays the same:

• sammenlignes

So even though langsyntheten og astigmatismen is a plural subject, the verb does not get a separate plural form.

Yes. This is standard Norwegian word order.

The sentence is:

• Langsyntheten og astigmatismen = subject
• sammenlignes = finite verb

Norwegian is a V2 language, which means the finite verb normally comes in the second position in main clauses.

Here, the whole subject Langsyntheten og astigmatismen counts as the first element, and sammenlignes comes second. So the sentence structure is completely normal.

The base verb is å sammenligne, meaning to compare.

Important forms are:

• å sammenligne = to compare
• sammenligner = compares / is comparing
• sammenlignes = is compared / are compared

So sammenlignes is the present passive form of å sammenligne.

Yes, somewhat.

Two things make it sound more formal or academic:

• the technical nouns langsyntheten and astigmatismen
• the passive form sammenlignes

This kind of wording fits well in medical, scientific, or educational writing.

A more everyday sentence might use a more active structure, depending on context, but this version is very natural in formal written Norwegian.

In Norwegian, if two coordinated nouns are both definite, each one is usually marked as definite on its own:

• langsyntheten og astigmatismen

English sometimes feels lighter here because it may use bare abstract nouns more easily, but Norwegian often prefers full definite marking when specific concepts are being discussed.

So the sentence does not treat them as one combined noun phrase with only the second noun marked definite. It treats them as:

• the farsightedness
• and
• the astigmatism

both explicitly definite.