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Questions & Answers about Anna peker mot venstre, mens Tom ser mot høyre.
What does peker mot mean in this sentence and how is mot used here?
peker is the present tense of å peke (infinitive to point), so peker mot literally means points toward. mot is the standard preposition for indicating a general direction (think toward or to in English). Here it links the verb to the direction-nouns venstre and høyre.
Why can’t we say peker på venstre or ser i venstre?
You use peke på (infinitive point at) when you point at a specific object (a house, a sign, etc.). But for a broad direction like venstre you need mot or til.
- peker på venstre is unnatural because på in peke på noe requires a concrete noun.
- ser i venstre fails because i means in or inside, not toward.
Could we use til venstre or til høyre instead of mot venstre and mot høyre? Is there any difference?
Yes. til venstre and til høyre also mean to the left / to the right. In everyday speech til is very common (e.g. Kjør til høyre på neste kryss). mot can feel a bit stronger—more like “facing toward” or “aiming toward” a direction. In most contexts they’re interchangeable.
Are venstre and høyre nouns or adverbs in this sentence? Why aren’t they adjectives?
Here venstre and høyre are nouns (direction-nouns) serving as the objects of the preposition mot. They’re not adjectives because they don’t modify another noun; they name the direction itself. Grammatically, the whole mot venstre or mot høyre phrase is adverbial.
What is mens, and does it affect the word order in the second clause?
mens means while and functions as a coordinating conjunction (like og, men, eller). It joins two main clauses, so it does not trigger inversion: you keep the normal V2 word order in both clauses (subject first, then verb).
Is the comma before mens necessary?
A comma before coordinating conjunctions like mens is generally optional in Norwegian. Writers often include it to mark a pause or separate longer clauses, but the sentence is still correct without it:
Anna peker mot venstre mens Tom ser mot høyre.
What are the infinitive forms of peker and ser, and how do you form the present tense?
- Infinitives: å peke (to point) and å se (to see/look).
- Present tense for verbs ending in -e is formed by adding -r to the stem:
• å peke → jeg peker, du peker, han peker
• å se → jeg ser, du ser, hun ser
This present form is identical across all persons.
Why aren’t venstre and høyre capitalized or used with an article here?
In Norwegian, cardinal directions and similar nouns (like venstre, høyre) are not capitalized unless they start a sentence or appear in a proper name. You also don’t use an article in fixed directional phrases, so you simply say mot venstre or mot høyre. (If you wanted a more explicit phrase you could say mot venstre side, but that’s less common.)