Vi ser tårnet fra byen.

Vi means we. It is the first-person plural subject pronoun.

• jeg = I
• du = you
• vi = we

So vi ser means we see.

Ser is the present tense of å se (to see).

• å se = to see
• ser = see / am seeing / are seeing

In Norwegian, the present tense often ends in -r, and it does not change for different subjects:

• jeg ser = I see
• du ser = you see
• vi ser = we see

So unlike English, Norwegian does not add a different ending for he/she/it in the present tense.

Because tårnet is the definite singular form: the tower.

The noun is:

• et tårn = a tower
• tårnet = the tower

Norwegian usually puts the definite article at the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

So:

• tårn = tower
• et tårn = a tower
• tårnet = the tower

Because tårn is a neuter noun.

In Bokmål, a neuter noun usually works like this:

• et tårn = a tower
• tårnet = the tower

That -et ending is the normal definite singular ending for many neuter nouns.

Compare:

• et hus → huset
• et barn → barnet
• et tårn → tårnet

Because by is a common gender noun, not a neuter noun.

Its forms are:

• en by = a city / a town
• byen = the city / the town

Common gender nouns usually take -en in the definite singular, while many neuter nouns take -et.

So:

• en by → byen
• et tårn → tårnet

Because Norwegian normally expresses the by adding an ending to the noun.

In this sentence:

• tårnet = the tower
• byen = the city / the town

This is one of the biggest differences from English. English uses a separate word (the), but Norwegian often attaches definiteness to the noun itself.

A useful contrast:

• et tårn = a tower
• tårnet = the tower
• en by = a city/town
• byen = the city/town

Fra usually means from.

In this sentence, it most naturally means from the city as the place where the seeing happens:

• Vi ser tårnet fra byen.
  = We see the tower from the city.

So fra byen tells you the point of view / starting place.

The most natural reading is that it describes where we are seeing it from: from the city.

So the structure is most naturally:

• Vi ser tårnet = We see the tower
• fra byen = from the city

A learner may wonder whether it could mean the tower from the city. Grammatically, prepositional phrases can sometimes be ambiguous, but in normal usage this sentence is usually understood as we see the tower from the city.

If you wanted to say the tower in the city, Norwegian would more naturally use:

• tårnet i byen = the tower in the city

No. By can mean city or town, depending on context.

So byen can be translated as:

• the city
• the town

English often forces you to choose one, but Norwegian by covers both.

It follows the normal Norwegian main-clause pattern:

Subject + Verb + Object + Adverbial

So here:

• Vi = subject
• ser = verb
• tårnet = object
• fra byen = adverbial phrase

This is a very standard and natural word order in Norwegian.

Yes, but Norwegian main clauses usually keep the verb in second position.

For example, you can move fra byen to the front:

• Fra byen ser vi tårnet.

That still means the same thing, but now the sentence starts with the adverbial phrase. Notice that ser still comes second.

This verb-second pattern is an important feature of Norwegian word order.