Bilen nærmer seg bakfra.

The car approaches from behind.

Breakdown of Bilen nærmer seg bakfra.

• bilen: the car
• nærme seg: to approach
• bakfra: from behind

Questions & Answers about Bilen nærmer seg bakfra.

Why is it bilen and not a separate word for the car?

In Norwegian, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun as a suffix.

• bil = car
• bilen = the car

So -en here means the. English uses a separate word; Norwegian often attaches it to the noun.

What form is bilen grammatically?

Bilen is the singular definite form of bil.

A quick set of forms:

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car
• biler = cars
• bilene = the cars

Since the sentence is talking about a specific car, Norwegian uses bilen.

Why does the sentence use nærmer seg instead of just nærmer?

Because the verb is å nærme seg, which is a reflexive verb in Norwegian.

That means it normally takes seg:

• Bilen nærmer seg. = The car is approaching.

Even though English just says approach, Norwegian usually says something closer to move oneself nearer in structure.

So in this sentence, seg is not optional.

What does seg mean here?