Breakdown of Он идёт назад.
он
he / it (for a masculine noun) / it (for a neuter noun)
идти
to go (on foot) / to proceed, go (of a process)
назад
back; ago
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Questions & Answers about Он идёт назад.
Why use идёт here instead of ходит?
In Russian, verbs of motion come in pairs. идёт means he is walking in one specific direction right now (unidirectional). If he walked back and forth regularly as a habit, you would use ходит (multidirectional). Because he is currently making a single trip "back," we use идёт.
I also know the word обратно for "back." Could I use it here instead of назад?
Yes, you could say Он идёт обратно. They are very similar, but назад slightly emphasizes the physical direction (backwards, or towards the rear), while обратно emphasizes returning to a starting point. In this context, both work perfectly!
Why isn't there a preposition before назад to show direction?
Because назад is an adverb, not a noun. Adverbs are fixed words that don't change their endings (they don't have cases) and often don't need prepositions because the sense of direction is already built into the word itself.
How would this sentence change if he were driving back instead of walking?
Russian uses different verbs of motion depending on whether you are on foot or taking transport. To say "He is driving back," you would swap out the walking verb for едет (is riding/driving), making the sentence Он едет назад.