Breakdown of Hon ser honom närma sig och hör honom vissla.
hon
she
och
and
se
to see
höra
to hear
honom
him
vissla
to whistle
närma sig
to approach
Questions & Answers about Hon ser honom närma sig och hör honom vissla.
Why are närma and vissla in the infinitive form instead of the present tense?
This sentence uses verbs of perception (se and höra). Just like in English ("sees him approach"), when you see or hear someone doing something, Swedish uses the object (honom) followed directly by the dictionary form of the action verb (the infinitive, like närma and vissla).
Why isn't there an att before närma and vissla?
Verbs of perception like se (to see) and höra (to hear) take a bare infinitive. This means you do not use the infinitive marker att (to). It works exactly like English: you say "hears him whistle," not "hears him to whistle."
Why is the word sig used here, and who does it refer to?
The verb att närma sig (to approach) is reflexive, so it always needs a reflexive pronoun. Even though Hon is the main subject of the sentence, the action of approaching is being done by the object, honom (him). Since "he" is the one approaching, the reflexive pronoun must match him, which is sig.
In English I could say "She sees him approaching." Can I use an -ande word in Swedish here?
No, Swedish does not use the present participle (words ending in -ande or -ende) in this way. While English distinguishes between "sees him approach" and "sees him approaching," Swedish simply uses the bare infinitive (närma) for both meanings.
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