Ze viel bijna flauw en moest uitrusten.

Here, ze most likely means she.

A useful thing to know is that ze can also mean they, depending on context. So by itself, ze is ambiguous. In this sentence, the verb forms and the context usually make it clear that it means she.

Also, ze is the unstressed form. The stressed form is zij.

• ze = neutral, common in normal speech and writing
• zij = stressed or more formal

Because the sentence is in the past tense.

• vallen = to fall
• valt = falls / is falling (present tense)
• viel = fell (past tense)

Vallen is a strong irregular verb, so its past tense does not just add -de or -te.

Its main forms are:

• vallen
• viel
• gevallen

So ze viel means she fell or, in this expression, she almost fainted.

Yes: flauwvallen is the full verb, meaning to faint.

But flauwvallen is a separable verb. That means in some sentence structures, it splits into two parts:

• flauwvallen = infinitive
• viel flauw = past tense, split form
• valt flauw = present tense, split form

So:

• Ze viel flauw. = She fainted.
• Ze is flauwgevallen. = She has fainted.

This is very common in Dutch with separable verbs.

Bijna means almost.

It modifies the action flauwvallen / flauw vallen, so:

• Ze viel flauw = She fainted.
• Ze viel bijna flauw = She almost fainted.

It comes before flauw here because flauw is the separated part of the verb flauwvallen.

In a normal Dutch main clause, the finite verb usually comes in second position.

So the structure is:

• Ze = subject
• viel = finite verb
• bijna flauw = rest of the predicate

That gives:

• Ze viel bijna flauw.

Because flauwvallen is separable, the first part is conjugated (viel) and the second part (flauw) stays later in the clause.

So the order is natural Dutch word order: subject + finite verb + other elements + separated particle

Moest is the past tense of moeten, which usually means must, have to, or need to.

• moeten = to have to / must
• moest = had to

So:

• Ze moest uitrusten. = She had to rest.

Like vallen, moeten has an irregular past tense:

• moeten
• moest
• gemoeten

Because it comes after the modal verb moest.

In Dutch, when you use a modal verb like moeten, kunnen, willen, mogen, or zullen, the second verb usually appears in the infinitive at the end of the clause.

So:

• Ze moest uitrusten.
• literally: She had to rest

This is a very important Dutch pattern:

• Ik kan zwemmen.
• Hij wil komen.
• We moeten vertrekken.

Because after a modal verb, Dutch normally uses the infinitive without te.

So you say:

• Ze moest uitrusten.

Not:

• Ze moest te uitrusten. ❌

This is similar to English:

• She had to rest not
• She had to to rest ❌

Uitrusten means to rest, to recover, or to take a rest.

In this sentence, it suggests that she needed to stop and recover physically.

Be careful: uitrusten can mean slightly different things depending on context.

• Ik ga even uitrusten. = I’m going to rest for a bit.
• Na de wandeling moesten we uitrusten. = After the walk, we had to rest.

It is also a separable verb:

• uitrusten = infinitive
• ik rust uit = I rest
• ik rustte uit = I rested
• ik heb uitgerust = I have rested

But after moest, it stays together as the infinitive: uitrusten.

Dutch often leaves out the subject in the second part of a sentence if it is the same subject as before.

So:

• Ze viel bijna flauw en moest uitrusten.

means the same as:

• Ze viel bijna flauw en ze moest uitrusten.

The shorter version is very natural. English does this too sometimes, especially in coordinated clauses:

• She almost fainted and had to rest.

Grammatically, yes, ze can mean they. But in this sentence, the verb forms make that unlikely.

If ze meant they, you would expect plural verb forms:

• Ze vielen bijna flauw en moesten uitrusten.

But the sentence has singular forms:

• viel
• moest

So here ze must be she.

Not exactly, though they are related.

• flauwvallen = to faint, to pass out
• bewusteloos raken = to become unconscious

Flauwvallen usually refers to the act of fainting.
Bewusteloos raken is more general and can sound more medical or more serious.

So in everyday Dutch, flauwvallen is the most natural choice for faint.

Yes, it sounds completely natural.

It is a normal, neutral sentence in everyday Dutch. A native speaker could easily say or write it.

You might also hear very similar versions, such as:

• Ze viel bijna flauw en moest even uitrusten.
• Ze was bijna flauwgevallen en moest uitrusten.

But the original sentence is already idiomatic and correct.