We prove a dynamical version of the Mordell Lang conjecture for etale endomorphisms of quasiprojective varieties We use p attic methods inspired by the work of Skolem Mahler and Lech combined with methods from algebraic geometry As special cases of our result we obtain a new proof of the classical Mordell Lang conjecture for cyclic subgroups of a semiabelian variety and we also answer positively a question of Keeler/Rogalski/Stafford for critically dense sequences of closed points of a Noetherian Integral scheme