You may have noticed that sometimes Swedish speakers do not place the subject of their sentences first, before the verb, as you would in English. Heck, sometimes they leave out the subject entirely (in spoken language):<\/p>\n
Jag st\u00f6tte p\u00e5 Malin p\u00e5 stan idag. Visste inte hon var p\u00e5 bes\u00f6k h\u00e4r! Notice the lack of subject in the second sentence. This is a common phenomenon in spoken Swedish if the subject is already understood from previous statements, although most common in first person.<\/p>\n Keep in mind, though, that st\u00f6ta p\u00e5 <\/em>and st\u00f6ta p\u00e5<\/em> are two different expressions! Yes, they may look exactly the same, but for one of them you emphasize the p\u00e5<\/em> and for the other you don’t. Check it out:<\/p>\n Jag st\u00f6tte p\u00e5 henne p\u00e5 stan.<\/em> (emphasis on p\u00e5<\/em>) – I ran into her in town. In other words, make sure you don’t get these confused, because you will probably be made fun of if you say the wrong one!<\/p>\n But that’s not what this post is about. I actually want to introduce the following concept to you:<\/p>\n Hans kusin studerar i Lund just nu.<\/em> – His cousin is studying in Lund right now. Just as in English, you can switch around sentence structures in Swedish. But notice what happens when you do it in Swedish, quite unlike in English:<\/p>\n Just nu studerar hans kusin i Lund.<\/em> – Right now studies his cousin in Lund. (literally translated)<\/p>\n
\n<\/em>I ran into Malin in town today. Didn’t know she was visiting here!
\n<\/em><\/p>\n
\nJag st\u00f6tte p\u00e5 henne p\u00e5 stan.<\/em> (emphasis on st\u00f6tte<\/em>) – I hit on (flirted with) her in town.<\/p>\n
\ncan also be written as:
\nJust nu studerar hans kusin i Lund.<\/em> – Right now, his cousin is studying in Lund.<\/p>\n