Questions & Answers about Jeg møter henne tilfeldig i byen.
What does møter mean here, and what tense is it?
Møter is the present tense of the verb å møte (to meet).
- Infinitive: å møte – to meet
- Present: møter – meet(s)
- Past: møtte – met
- Past participle: møtt – met
In Jeg møter henne tilfeldig i byen, møter is simple present and can mean:
- a present event: I (am) meet(ing) her by chance in town.
- a habitual action: I (often) meet her by chance in town.
- even a near-future meaning in the right context: Tomorrow I meet her… (though then it wouldn’t really be tilfeldig / by chance).
Norwegian present tense is used quite broadly, similar to English I meet / I am meeting depending on context.
Why is it henne and not hun?
Norwegian, like English, has different pronouns for subject and object:
- hun = she (subject form)
- henne = her (object form)
In the sentence:
- Jeg (I) is the subject: the one doing the meeting.
- henne (her) is the direct object: the one being met.
So you say:
- Hun møter meg. – She meets me.
- Jeg møter henne. – I meet her.
Using hun here (Jeg møter hun) would be grammatically wrong, just like I meet she is wrong in English.
What exactly does tilfeldig mean here? Is it like “by accident,” “randomly,” or “coincidentally”?