Hun snakker med forretningsmannen.

Snakker is the present tense of å snakke = to speak / to talk.

A useful thing for English speakers: Norwegian verbs do not change for different persons in the present tense.

• jeg snakker = I speak / am speaking
• du snakker = you speak / are speaking
• hun snakker = she speaks / is speaking

So snakker stays the same.

In Norwegian, the simple present often covers both:

• she speaks
• she is speaking

So Hun snakker med forretningsmannen can mean either, depending on context. Norwegian usually does not need a separate continuous form like English does.

It can mean both. In many everyday contexts, å snakke covers the meanings of both to speak and to talk.

So this sentence could naturally be translated as either:

• She is speaking with the businessman
• She is talking to the businessman

The best English choice depends on context and style.

Yes. Med usually means with, but after å snakke, it is often used where English says to or with.

So:

• snakke med noen = speak with / talk to someone

Compare:

• snakke om noen = talk about someone
• snakke til noen = speak to someone, often in a more one-way or formal sense

So Hun snakker med forretningsmannen means she is in communication with him, not talking about him.

Because Norwegian usually writes compound nouns as one word.

Here, forretningsmannen is built from:

• forretning = business, shop
• linking -s-
• mann = man

So forretningsmann = businessman

Then the definite ending is added:

• forretningsmann = businessman
• forretningsmannen = the businessman

Writing it as separate words would be incorrect in standard Norwegian.

Because Norwegian often shows definiteness by adding an ending to the noun.

For a masculine singular noun:

• en forretningsmann = a businessman
• forretningsmannen = the businessman

The ending -en is doing the job that English the does.

Then you would use the indefinite form:

Hun snakker med en forretningsmann.

Compare:

• med en forretningsmann = with a businessman
• med forretningsmannen = with the businessman

So the difference is the same as English a vs the.

This sentence uses the basic Norwegian main-clause order:

subject + verb + rest

• Hun = subject
• snakker = verb
• med forretningsmannen = prepositional phrase

So the structure is very straightforward.

A useful extra point: Norwegian main clauses follow the V2 rule, which means the finite verb normally comes in the second position. Here that happens naturally because the subject comes first.

For example:

• Hun snakker med forretningsmannen.
• I dag snakker hun med forretningsmannen.

In the second sentence, I dag comes first, so snakker still stays in second position.

That is just how Norwegian commonly marks definiteness: by attaching it to the noun itself.

This is very common in Bokmål:

• en bil → bilen
• en mann → mannen
• en forretningsmann → forretningsmannen

If there is an adjective, Norwegian often uses both a separate definite marker and the noun ending:

• den rike forretningsmannen = the rich businessman

But in your sentence, there is no adjective, so forretningsmannen by itself is enough.