Word Order

The difference between the sentence and the clause is important since all that is said about word order concerns the clause and not the sentence. Below follows definitions of clause and sentence for Swedish:

Definition of CLAUSE: subject and verb (in the form of presens or preteritum). The one exception is verbs in the imperative. These do not require any explicit subject since imperatives always refer to 2nd person singular or plural.

Definition of SENTENCE: Capital letter to full stop or question or exclamation mark.

The consequence of this is that a sentence can be made up of several clauses. If the sentence is made up of only one clause, then the definition of sentence and clause coincide.

Example of sentence with two clauses: 'Han heter Sven och han bor i Stockholm.' ('He is called Sven and he lives in Stockholm'). The two clauses 'Han heter Sven' and 'han bor i Stockholm' is joined together by the conjunction 'och'. The conjunction 'och' is not part of either clause but rather combines the two clauses togerther.

X+ V1+ (S)+ SA+ V2+ O+ Adv

X: This position is called the 'fundament' in Swedish and is a variable. It is most common for the subject to fill this position, but it is also common for adverbials of time and place. The 'fundament' can also be empty in which case the V1 is in first position in the clause.

V1: This has to be a verb in one of the tenses presens or preteritum.

(S): This is the position of the subject if the subject is not in the X-position.

SA: The SatsAdverbial modifies the whole clause. There are many examples of words in this category, but the most common is the negation 'inte'.

V2: If there is a second verb it will be in the form of imperfect or supinum.

O: The object position is after the second verb.

Adj: The final position of the clause is occupied by adverbials. These occur in the following order: 1) adverbials of manner (e.g. 'fast'), 2) adverbials of place (e.g. 'here') and 3) adverbials of time (e.g. 'now').

Note: Swedish is sometimes called a V2-language on account of the first verb always being in second positions in the clause. In the outline above this can be seen. If anything except the subject preceedes the verb, then the subject follows the verb. One common mistake learners of Swedish make is to place both an adverbial of time and the subject before the verb: 'Nu jag går'. This cannot be done in Swedish. The correct way would be either 'Nu går jag.' or 'Jag går nu'.

Below are some sentences that are statements. Note how they fit into the formula for main clauses below and how the minimun of verb + subject can be expanded upon into forming really long clauses while all maintainging the same word order:

X	V1	(S)	SA	V2	O	P
Jag	studerar.
Jag	studerar				svenska.
Jag	studerar		inte		svenska.
Jag	ska			studera	svenska	på SFI.
Jag	ska			studera	svenska	på SFI i höst.
I höst	ska	jag		studera	svenska	på SFI.
Imorgon	ska	jag	kanske	åka	tåg	till Stockholm.

There are two types of questions:

1) Question with verb forst:

• X-position is empty

• The answer is Ja(/Jo) or No

2) Question with question verb first:

• Question word in the X-position

• The verb follows the question word (/question expression).

In summary, questions start only with a verb or a question word. There is however one construction in spoken Swedish which violates this rule whereby it is possible to ask questions with subject or an adverbial in the inititial position (fundamentet). If, and only if, the particle 'väl' is introduced in the position of SatsAdverbial. The pragmatic meaning of this construction is equivalent to the English "You are coming on Saturday, aren't you?". This is essentially a statement where uncertainty is being introduced resulting in a question. The final example is an example of this:

X	V1	(S)	SA	V2	O	P
	Studerar	du?
	Studerar	du			svenska	på SFI?
	Brukar	du		äta	lunch	i skolan på fredagar?
	Bor	du	inte			i Uppsala?
Vad	heter	du?
Var	bor	du?
När	slutar	vi?
Hur mycket	är	klockan?
Du	kommer		väl			på lördag?