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Bussen nærmer seg stasjonen.

Bussen nærmer seg stasjonen.
The bus is approaching the station.
FromLesson 12inHardcore Norwegian
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Breakdown of Bussen nærmer seg stasjonen.

stasjonen
the station
bussen
the bus
nærme seg
to approach
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Questions & Answers about Bussen nærmer seg stasjonen.

What does nærmer seg mean, and why can’t I just say nærmer or seg alone?

nærmer seg is the present tense of the pronominal (reflexive) verb å nærme seg, which means “to approach.” The reflexive pronoun seg is mandatory here – it’s part of the verb. You cannot drop seg, nor does nærmer by itself carry the meaning “approach.” The structure is:
Subject + verb (nærmer) + reflexive pronoun (seg) + thing approached.

Why don’t we use a preposition like til before stasjonen? In English we say “approaching the station” (to).

With nærme seg, Norwegian directly attaches the object you’re approaching without a preposition. So you say nærmer seg stasjonen, not nærmer seg til stasjonen. If you really want a “to-station” idea you’d switch verbs:
Bussen er på vei til stasjonen – “The bus is on its way to the station.”

Why are bussen and stasjonen in the definite form? How would I say “a bus” or “a station”?

In Norwegian you form the definite singular by adding a suffix:
buss → bussen (the bus)
stasjon → stasjonen (the station)
To make them indefinite (“a bus,” “a station”), you use the article en and drop -en:
En buss nærmer seg en stasjon. – “A bus is approaching a station.”

How do I put nærmer seg into the past tense?

nærme seg is a regular (weak) verb. In past tense you replace -er with -et:
nærmet seg
So your sentence becomes:
Bussen nærmet seg stasjonen. – “The bus approached (or was approaching) the station.”

How would I ask “Is the bus approaching the station?” in Norwegian?

For a yes/no question you invert verb and subject (V2 rule):
Nærmer bussen seg stasjonen?

Are there other ways to express the same idea?

Yes. A few common alternatives:
• Bussen er på vei til stasjonen. – “The bus is on its way to the station.”
• Bussen kommer nærmere stasjonen. – “The bus is coming closer to the station.”

How do I pronounce Bussen nærmer seg stasjonen?

A rough English‐style pronunciation:
BOO-sen NAIR-mer say stah-SHOO-nen
In IPA (Eastern Norwegian):
[ˈbʉːsən ˈnæɾmər seː stɑˈʃuːnən]