Swedish: An Essential Grammar, 2nd edition

ju, nog, väl, då
(b) Short pronominal and conjunctional adverbs:
alltså, därför, ändå
(c) Longer modal adverbs:
verkligen, egentligen,
faktiskt
(d) Negations:
inte, aldrig
De har ju (1) därför (2) faktiskt (3) aldrig (4) rest utomlands.
They have, you understand, therefore actually never been abroad.
12.6.4
12.6.3
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positions
(sentence
elements)
187

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Other adverbials
Other adverbials (OA) comprise expressions of manner, place, time, cause,
condition, etc. They are sometimes called MPT-adverbials for this reason,
and often consist of a preposition + noun construction or of a subordinate
clause:
Vi kommer med tåg.
We’re coming by train.
OA-manner
Vi kommer till Stockholm.
We’re coming to Stockholm.
OA-place
Vi kommer på torsdag.
We’re coming on Thursday.
OA-time
Vi kommer om vi har tid.
We’ll come if we have time.
OA-condition
Vi kommer när vi är lediga.
We’ll come when we are free.
OA-time
Notice that the relative order of OAs is usually (but not always):
Vi kommer med tåg (Manner) till Stockholm (Place) på torsdag
(Time) om vi har tid (Condition).
We’re coming by train to Stockholm on Thursday if we have time.
If the adverbial of manner is long, however, the order may be PTM:
Han reser till Frankrike på sommaren med egen bil.
He travels by car to France in the summer.
Some simple adverbs are also OAs:
Vi kom dit/hem/ut/bort/ner.
We got there/home/out/down.
OAs usually come at the end of sentences but often begin main clauses.
See 12.7.1.
Objects and complements
Transitive verbs (7.5.14) take a direct object:
Nils äter kakan. 
Intransitive verbs (7.5.14) take no object:
Nils sitter i soffan.
12.6.6
12.6.5
12
Word order
and sentence
structure
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The direct object (DO) – which goes in the object (O) position – may
comprise:
a noun phrase:
Någon stal hans bil.
Someone stole his car.
a pronoun:
Anna kysste honom.
Anna kissed him.
a subordinate clause: Jag vet att han är där. I know that he is there.
Ditransitive verbs possess both a direct and an indirect object (see 7.5.14).
The indirect object (IO) is usually a person for whose sake an action is
undertaken:
Jag gav studenten min bok.
Jag gav min bok till studenten.
IO
DO
DO
IO
I gave the student my book.
I gave my book to the student.
Notice that the order of the objects is usually as in English, i.e.:
•
a prepositionless object precedes an object with a preposition:
Han lånade
boken
till Nils.
– prep
+ prep
He lent
the book
to Nils.
•
if neither object has a preposition the indirect object precedes the
direct object:
Han lånade
Nils
boken.
IO
DO
He lent
Nils
the book.
The predicative complement (C) occupies the same position as the object
(O), following the object if there is one. It is found in sentences with
copular verbs such as: vara, bli, heta, kallas, verka, tyckas, se . . . ut, utse
. . . till, göra . . . till. The complement agrees with the subject or object.
Subject complements
Olle och Mari är studenter.
Olle and Mari are students.
De blir säkert nervösa.
They will surely get nervous.
Object complements
Det gjorde honom besviken.
They made him disappointed.
De kallade Sture för Stumpen.
They called Sture ‘Stumpen’.
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Verb particle
See compound verbs, 7.5.18. The verb particle (Part) occupies a position
between the non-finite verb and the object/complement:
1
2
3
4
5
5a
6
7
T
FV
S
CA
NFV
Part
O/C
OA
Jag
tycker
–
inte
–
om
honom.
Har
du
aldrig
tyckt
om
henne?
Du
kommer
–
nog
att tycka om
henne.
Translations: I don’t like him. Have you never liked her? You will probably like her.
Passive agent
See passive, 7.5.17, 12.7.6. The passive agent (Agent) occupies a position
between the object/complement and the other adverbial:
1
2
3
4
5
6
6a
7
T
FV
S
CA
NFV
O/C
Agent
OA
Han blev
–
inte
omkörd
–
av bussen.
Han beviljades
–
–
avsked
av styrelsen
igår.
Translations: He was not overtaken by the bus. He was allowed to resign by the board
yesterday.
12.6.8
12.6.7
12
Word order
and sentence
structure
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Main clause structure – extended positional scheme with examples
12.6.9
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6
6a
7
L
X
1
T
FV
(S)
CA
NFV
Part
O/C
Agent OA
X
2
1
Han
hade
–
inte
packat
–
väskan
–
imorse.
2
Imorse hade
han
inte
packat
–
väskan.
3
Vi
ger
–
–
–
–
Olle gåvan –
ikväll.
4
Sedan
blev
de
tyvärr
–
arga.
5
Det
har
–
redan
kommit –
två poliser.
6
och
det
är
ju
–
–
roligt
–
–
att
spela
tennis.
7
Sten
brukade
–
kyssa
–
oss, –
–
Maja
och
mig.
8 men Nils,
han
är
–
inte
–
–
dum,
–
–
han.
9
De
ringde
–
–
–
upp
oss –
–
hemma.
10
Vi
blev
–
–
upp-
–
–
av
hemma.
ringda
Olssons
11
Far
dödades –
–
–
–
–
–
under 
kriget.
12
De
gifte
sig
aldrig.
13
Vi
känner
honom inte.
Translations: 1 He hadn’t packed the case this morning. 2 This morning he hadn’t packed the case. 3 We will
give Olle the gift tonight. 4 Then they unfortunately got angry. 5 Two policemen have already arrived. 6 and
it is of course fun to play tennis. 7 Sten used to kiss us, Maja and me. 8 but Nils, he’s not stupid, he isn’t.
9 They rang us up at home. 10 We were rung up by the Olssons at home. 11 Father was killed during the
war. 12 They never married. 13 We don’t know him.
Key to table:
For details see section:
L(ink) = conjunction
12.4
X
1
= extra position
duplicate elements in the sentence
12.5
T(opic)
any sentence element
12.7.1
F(inite) V(erb)
verb carrying the tense
12.6.2
S(ubject)
includes reflexive pronoun, unstressed object
12.6.1
C(lausal) A(dverbial)
12.6.4
N(on-) F(inite) V(erb)
infinitive, supine or participle
12.6.3
(Verb) Part(icle)
only with separable compound verbs
12.6.7
O(bject)/C(omplement)
includes real subject
12.6.6
Agent
only with passive verbs
12.6.8
O(ther) A(dverbials)
manner, place, time, etc.
12.6.5
X
2
– extra position
duplicates elements in the sentence, subject and 
object clauses and non-finite clauses
12.5
Sentences 2, 4
12.7.1
Sentence 3
12.6.6
Sentences 5, 6
12.7.7
Sentences 7, 8
12.5
Sentence 9
12.6.7
Sentence 10
12.6.8
Sentences 12, 13
12.7.4

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Moving elements within the main clause
Topicalization
1 The subject most frequently occupies the topic position, but it may be
replaced by moving to the front almost any other sentence element. When
the subject is not the topic it follows the finite verb.
T
FV
S
CA
NFV
O
OA
Base sentence:
Han
tänker –
inte sälja
bilen
i år.
New topic 1 (OA to topic):
I år
tänker han
inte sälja
bilen. –
New topic 2 (O to topic):
Bilen
tänker han
inte sälja
–
i år.
Det
tänker vi
inte göra.
New topic 3 (CA to topic):
Inte
tänker han
–
sälja
bilen
i år.
New topic 4 (Verb phrase to topic):
Sälja bilen tänker han
inte (göra) –
i år.
Note other possible topics:
Direct speech to topic:
Tusan!
sa
han.
Complement to topic:
Vacker
var
han
inte.
Translations: He’s not thinking of selling the car this year. This year he’s not thinking of
selling the car. (Lit.: The car he is not thinking of selling this year.) We’re not thinking
of doing that. (Surely) he’s not thinking of selling the car this year! Selling the car (is
something) he’s not thinking of doing this year. ‘Blast!’ he said. Beautiful he was not.
Topicalization of other adverbials (especially time, place) is by far the
most frequent type: