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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”?