<\/p>\n
In Swedish, there are three main conjunctions: och<\/em>, eller<\/em>, and men<\/em> – “and”, “or”, and “but”, respectively. Conjunctions<\/strong> are grammatical words which are used to represent a connection between two words of the same kind. For example,\u00a0en mor och<\/span> en far<\/em> – “a mother and<\/span> a father”;\u00a0glad men<\/span> tr\u00f6tt<\/em> – “happy but<\/span> tired”. Conjunctions are also used to join main clauses<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Jag ringde Kalle men<\/span> han var inte hemma.<\/em> – I called Kalle but<\/span> he wasn’t home. Not only can conjunctions be used to join main clauses to each other; they can also be used to join together subclauses<\/strong>:<\/p>\n [Hon tror] att han \u00e4r sjuk eller<\/span> att han sovit d\u00e5ligt.<\/em> – [She believes] that he’s sick or<\/span> that he slept badly. Conjunctions show a certain relationship between words or phrases of the same type<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Subjunctions<\/strong>, on the other hand, are used to connect main clauses and subclauses<\/strong>. Examples of subclauses are\u00a0att<\/em>,\u00a0n\u00e4r<\/em>,\u00a0om<\/em>,\u00a0d\u00e4r<\/em>,\u00a0vad<\/em>,\u00a0var<\/em>, and various others, when they are used in this way.<\/p>\n What does that mean, though? Let’s take a look at the previous two examples:<\/p>\n [Hon tror] att<\/span> han \u00e4r sjuk, eller att<\/span> han sovit d\u00e5ligt.<\/em> – [She believes] that<\/span> he’s sick, or that<\/span> he slept badly. (Here, the main clause is placed in [brackets], and the subjunction is underlined<\/span>.)<\/p>\n You can see that the subjunction is what joins the main clause with the subclause:<\/p>\n hon tror att<\/span> han \u00e4r sjuk<\/em> – she believes that<\/span> he is sick<\/p>\n att<\/em><\/span> han \u00e4r sjuk<\/em> “that he is sick” is a subclause because it is a component of a larger sentence (a “main clause”). That main sentence is hon tror ___<\/em> “she believes ___”. What does she believe? She believes\u00a0that<\/span> he is sick.<\/p>\n If we instead put och<\/em> “and” where att<\/em> “that” is, we would get hon tror och<\/span> han \u00e4r sjuk<\/em> “she believes, and he is sick”. Now, han \u00e4r sjuk<\/em> “he is sick” is a separate thought which, while connected to hon tror<\/em> “she believes”, is not a part within it. What does she believe? I don’t know, but he is sick. When och<\/em> is used, we get two main clauses instead of a main clause and a subclause.<\/p>\n To reinforce, conjunctions connect main clauses with other main clauses, or subclauses with other subclauses. Subjunctions, on the other hand, connect main clauses with subclauses.<\/p>\n This difference is important because the two are used very differently. For some reason, in English, they are often placed in the same category, “conjunctions”. Swedish makes a clear distinction between conjunctions and subjunctions for logical reasons, and this makes it easier to describe grammar even in other areas of the language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Swedish, there are three main conjunctions: och, eller, and men – “and”, “or”, and “but”, respectively. Conjunctions are grammatical words which are used to represent a connection between two words of the same kind. For example,\u00a0en mor och en far – “a mother and a father”;\u00a0glad men tr\u00f6tt – “happy but tired”. Conjunctions…<\/p>\n
\nSka du laga maten eller<\/span> vill du hellre diska?<\/em> – Are you going to cook the food, or<\/span> would you rather do the dishes?<\/p>\n
\n[De undrar] n\u00e4r han kommer och<\/span> om han kan h\u00e4mta hunden.<\/em> – [They are wondering] when he’s coming and<\/span> if he can fetch the dog.<\/p>\n
\n[De undrar] n\u00e4r<\/span> han kommer, och om<\/span> han kan h\u00e4mta hunden.<\/em> – [They are wondering] when<\/span> he’s coming, and if<\/span> he can fetch the dog.<\/p>\n