Questions & Answers about Tom peker med fingeren på kartet.
What is the infinitive of peker, and what does it mean?
peker is the present tense of å peke, which means to point. Conjugation in the present tense is regular: jeg peker, du peker, han/hun peker, etc.
Which preposition does å peke take when you point at something?
When you point at something in Norwegian, you use å peke på. The object you point at follows på, so peker på kartet means “points at the map.”
Why is fingeren in the definite form rather than en finger?
In Norwegian, when you talk about your own body parts in a general action, you typically use the definite form instead of an indefinite article plus your personal pronoun. So instead of med en finger or med fingeren, you say med fingeren (“with the (his) finger”).
Why is kartet in the definite form rather than et kart?
Here you’re referring to a specific map, so you use the definite singular kartet (“the map”). Indefinite et kart would mean “a map” in general, but context indicates it’s a particular map.
What are the grammatical genders of finger and kart, and how do their definite forms work?