Breakdown of Jeg ser hennes bil ved inngangen.
Questions & Answers about Jeg ser hennes bil ved inngangen.
Ser is the present tense form of the verb å se (“to see”). The full conjugation is:
Infinitive: se
Present: ser
Past: så
Past participle: sett
So jeg ser simply means “I see.”
Norwegian distinguishes between reflexive and non-reflexive possessive pronouns.
- Sin is reflexive and refers back to the subject (e.g. Hun ser sin bil – “She sees her own car”).
- Hennes is non-reflexive and refers to someone else’s possession when the subject is different (e.g. Jeg ser hennes bil – “I see her car,” where “her” is not the speaker).
Inngang means “entrance.” Adding -en makes it definite: inngangen = “the entrance.”
The preposition ved means “by” or “at,” and with a definite noun you don’t add another article. Thus ved inngangen translates to “by (the) entrance.”
Standard Norwegian main clauses follow SVO order, then adverbials of place or time. So:
Subject (Jeg) – Verb (ser) – Object (hennes bil) – Place (ved inngangen).
Invert the subject and the verb:
Ser jeg hennes bil ved inngangen?
For past tense “Did you see her car by the entrance?” use the past of se and invert:
Så du hennes bil ved inngangen?
- Ved inngangen = “by/at the entrance” (outside or next to the doorway).
- I inngangen = “in the entrance” (inside the foyer or entrance hall). The choice depends on whether you mean outside next to it or actually inside it.