{"id":6607,"date":"2014-04-28T21:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-04-28T21:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/?p=6607"},"modified":"2014-04-28T21:01:59","modified_gmt":"2014-04-28T21:01:59","slug":"how-to-impress-your-swedish-friends-abbreviate-your-clauses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/swedish\/how-to-impress-your-swedish-friends-abbreviate-your-clauses\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Impress Your Swedish Friends: Abbreviate Your Clauses"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you get more and more comfortable with Swedish, you\u2019ll start to notice that some of those pesky bisatser<\/em>, or subordinate clauses, are being shortened by Swedish speakers. In Swedish, it\u2019s called a satsf\u00f6rkortning<\/em>. In English, it just means that you\u2019re abbreviating the clause. For example:
\nHan s\u00e5g att hon sj\u00f6ng<\/em>. He saw that she sang.
\nHan s\u00e5g henne sjunga<\/em>. He saw her sing.<\/p>\n

That second sentence there has been abbreviated just a bit. Luckily, there are some very simple steps to follow to make this work for you.<\/p>\n

First, you need to be paying attention to the verb in the sentence. There are a few different ways of abbreviating clauses and a few different reasons why you might do it, we\u2019re just going to focus on abbreviating clauses with the verbs se<\/em> (see), h\u00f6ra<\/em> (hear), be<\/em> (ask or pray), and k\u00e4nna<\/em> (feel). If you see one of those four verbs in the main clause of a sentence, there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ll have the opportunity to abbreviate the subordinate clause. Exciting, huh?<\/p>\n

So in our example from above, s\u00e5g<\/em> is the past tense of se <\/em>so we are off to a good start.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve identified the verb, you\u2019ll need to identify the subject in the subordinate clause. It\u2019s important to do this, because you\u2019ll need to change the subject to the object of the main clause. This sounds super grammatical, but it\u2019s quite easy. Just remember your subject and object pronouns:
\nSubjekt –><\/em>Objekt <\/em>
\nJag –> Mig <\/em>
\nDu –><\/em>Dig <\/em>
\nHan –><\/em>Honom <\/em>
\nHon –><\/em>Henne <\/em>
\nHen –><\/em>Henom<\/em>
\nDen –><\/em>Den <\/em>
\nDet –><\/em>Det <\/em>
\nVi –><\/em>Oss <\/em>
\nNi –><\/em>Er <\/em>
\nDe –><\/em>Dem<\/em><\/p>\n

Again, in our example from above hon<\/em> is the subject of the subordinate clause. We\u2019ll want to change that to henne<\/em> to make it the object of our main clause.<\/p>\n

So right now we have a very ungrammatical sentence: Han s\u00e5g att henne sj\u00f6ng<\/em>.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not going to work so we need to keep going with our transformation. This step involves changing the verb in the subordinate clause to the infinitive form.<\/p>\n

In our example, that means we have to change sj\u00f6ng<\/em>, the past tense of sing, to the infinitive form. Sj\u00f6ng<\/em> becomes sjunga<\/em> in the infinitive.<\/p>\n

Now we have: Han s\u00e5g att henne sjunga<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Still not great, but we\u2019re close.<\/p>\n

Finally, just remove the bisatsinledare<\/em> (conjunction).<\/p>\n

In our not-quite-there sentence \u201chan s\u00e5g att henne sjunga<\/em>,\u201d att<\/em> is the bisatsinledare<\/em>.<\/p>\n

So, remove that att<\/em> and we have: Han s\u00e5g henne sjunga<\/em>. Ta da!<\/p>\n

One more time:
\nFirst, does the main clause include the verb se<\/em>, h\u00f6ra<\/em>, be<\/em>, or k\u00e4nna<\/em>?
\nSecond, change the subject of the subordinate clause to the object of the main clause.
\nThird, change the verb of the subordinate clause to the infinitive.
\nFourth, remove the conjunction.
\nFifth, say or write the sentence and amaze all of your Swedish-speaking friends.<\/p>\n

No problem, right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you get more and more comfortable with Swedish, you\u2019ll start to notice that some of those pesky bisatser, or subordinate clauses, are being shortened by Swedish speakers. In Swedish, it\u2019s called a satsf\u00f6rkortning. In English, it just means that you\u2019re abbreviating the clause. For example: Han s\u00e5g att hon sj\u00f6ng. He saw that she…<\/p>\n

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