Bussen nærmer seg stasjonen.

The bus is approaching the station.

Breakdown of Bussen nærmer seg stasjonen.

• stasjonen: the station
• bussen: the bus
• nærme seg: to approach

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.

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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.”

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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.”

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How do I put nærmer seg into the past tense?