1. THE CLAUSE
The clause is the largest entity that can be described by the grammar; this is why the clause is chosen as the largest unit in this reference grammar. There are basically two kinds of clauses, Main clauses, John kicked the ball, and embedded clauses (I know) that John kicked the ball. In many respects these two types of clauses have the same internal syntax, although main clauses lack subjunctions, the presence of which can thus be seen as an indicator of an embedded clause.
General
Head words, phrases and embedded clauses are ordered in particular ways within more encompassing clauses and phrases in different languages. The order of elements is usually referred to as word order, although the term may be a bit misleading.
The Germanic languages are very similar with respect to word order, with some idiosyncrasies. To illustrate the similarities and differences, it is useful to divide the clause into three parts, called First, Middle and Last, respectively, as in Never / did he / read a book on Sundays:
(a) The first part contains at most one clause element; in the majority of cases, this phrase is the subject of the clause: He wrote the book, Whokissed her?, but may also be the object, Mary John likes, Who did he kiss? or an adverbial: Yesterday he went to Paris, Where does he live?Never did he read a book on Sundays. In yes/no questions, the first position is empty: __Did he kiss her?
(b) The middle part begins immediately after the first part, and ends with the sentence adverbial, if there is one: first comes the tensed verb (only the tensed auxiliary in English), then the subject, and finally the sentence adverbial: Who did he probably kiss? Never did he read a book on Sundays.
(c) The last part begins immediately after the second part, and proceeds until the end of the clause: He need do it only under these circumstances. Never did he read a book on Sundays. The last part of the clause is also called the Verb phrase: it is a phrase with a verb as its head.
With respect to the order of elements within the middle and the final part, the Germanic languages can be divided in two groups, where German and Dutch constitute a group of their own. Starting with the middle field, the basic order for all the languages is tensed verb > subject > sentence adverbial, but German and Dutch have particularly flexible word orders that are not found in the other languages. Also note that English allows only the tensed auxiliary to appear in the initial position of the middle part, whereas the other languages also may have the tensed main verb here.
The most obvious difference between German and Dutch on one hand, and Danish, English, Icelandic, Norwegian and Swedish on the other, is found in the final part of the clause (the verb phrase): in German and Dutch this part begins with adverbials of time, location, manner etc., followed by the object and the infinite verb, as in the German example, Ich muss morgen im Warenhaus ein Buch gekaufen, whereas in the other Germanic languages the main verb precedes the infinitive verb, object and adverbials, as seen in the corresponding English example, I must buy a book at the department store tomorrow. Generally speaking, this means that the German and Dutch main verb follows its object and adverbials, i.e. the verb phrase is verb final in these languages, whereas it is verb initial in the other Germanic languages where the main verb precedes its object and adverbials.
Swedish
The basic word order of the Swedish clause is shown below. The second position in the table, called
Finite, is filled by the tensed verb in main clauses, and by the subjunction in embedded clauses. In the table, main clauses and embedded clauses are paired to show the parallel word orders.
| First Position | M i d d l e p a r t | F i n a l p a r t (Verb phrase) |
| | Finite | Subject | Sent.advl | Verb | Object | Advl |
| Vemwho | harhas | | intenot | lästread | den här bokenthis book | änyet |
| (Jag vet)vemI know who | somthat | | intenot | har lästhas read | den här bokenthis book | änyet |
| Den här bokenthis book | harhas | hanhe | faktisktactually | lästread | | |
| (Det är) min bokit is my book | somthat | hanhe | faktisktactually | har lästhas read | | |
As the word order of the Final part indicates, Swedish is a language with verb-initial verb phrases.
General
The first position of the clause is particularily important for communication, because it is the starting-point for what the speaker wants to say. It is here that the speaker indicates what he considers to be familiar territory. This position contains at most one clause element, that will be called the base of the clause; in the majority of cases, the subject is the base, as in He wrote the book, Who kissed her?, but, not infrequently, the object or an adverbial may be the base, as in Mary John likes, Who did he kiss?, Yesterday he went to Paris, Where does he live? Wh-elements are always placed in first position in all the Germanic languages: Who has arrived?, When did she go?, Where is she?, How did she manage? In yes/no questions, the first position is empty: _Did he kiss her? and the same is true of imperatives: _Open the door! Occasionally we find the predicative complement in first position, as in Rich I may be, but that doesn’t mean I’m happy, a quotation, as in Here I am, said Bill loudly, or the complement of a preposition: His face I’m not fond of, but his character I despise. Compare these with I am not fond of his face.
Swedish
In declarative main clauses almost any clause element may occur in the first position, although in most cases the subject is the base (in 60-70% of the cases), as in (1a). It is also common to find an adverbial as the base (20-30% of the cases) as in (1b,c), or the object (5-10% of the cases) as in (1d). Less common is a predicative complement (1e) or a particle (1f) as the base.
(1) a. Han hittade faktiskt pengarna under sängen. (subj + tensed verb)
he found actually money.the under bed.the
He actually found the money under the bed.
b. Under sängen hittade han faktiskt pengarna. (adverbial + tensed verb)
under bed.the found he actually money.the
c. Faktiskt hittade han pengarna under sängen. (adverbial + tensed verb)
actually found he money.the under bed.the
d. Pengarna hittade han faktiskt under sängen. (object + tensed verb)
money.the found he actually under bed.the
e. Sjuk var han inte. (predicative + tensed verb)
sick was he not
He was not sick.
f. Ut kastade han bollen. (particle + tensed verb)
out threw he ball.the
He threw the ball out.
The word orders in (1) are replicated in one type of embedded clause, viz. the cleft construction. Consider (2), where we find the same freedom of choice of clefted element as we find in (1), with the exception of the sentence adverbial (2c). Note that the subjunction is optional (indicated by parantheses) as soon as something other than the subject is first.
(2) a. Det var han som faktiskt hittade pengarna under sängen. (subj + compl.)
it was he that actually found money.the under bed.the
It was he who actually found the money under the bed.
b. Det var under sängen (som)han faktiskt pengarna. (adverbial + compl.)
c. ??Det var faktiskt (som) han hittade pengarna under sängen. (adverbial + compl.)
d. Det var pengarna (som) han faktiskt hittade under sängen. (object + compl.)
e. Det var sjuk (som) han var. (predicative + compl.)f. Det var ut (som) han kastade bollen. (particle + compl.)
General
The Germanic languages have grammaticalized a particular position for the finite element of the clause. In main clauses the finite element is the tensed verb, in embedded clauses it is the subjunction. The tensed verb form has two duties: it carries the tense suffix, which introduces a time aspect (before - after now), and it expresses finiteness, which anchors this time line to the point of view of the speaker at the moment of speech (now = the moment of speech). Without this anchoring, we cannot say if a statement is true or false (An utterance like I am happy is true if and only if I am happy at the time of uttering it).
Swedish
Like all the other Germanic languages except English, Swedish systematically expresses finiteness in main clauses by placing the tensed verb at the left periphery of the clause, such that only one constituent, i.e. the base, is allowed in front of the verb (verb second). In embedded clauses, finiteness is expressed by a subjunction (att ’that’, som ’that (relative)’, om ’if’) in the finite position.
(1) a. Johan hade faktiskt öppnat dörren långsamt.
Johan had as-a-matter-of-fact opened door.the slowly
b. (Jag vet) att Johan faktiskt hade öppnat dörren långsamt.
I know that Johan as-a-matter-of fact had opened door.the slowly.
(2) a.. Dörren hade Johan faktiskt öppnat långsamt.
door.the had Johan as-a-matter-of-fact opened slowly
b. Det var dörren som Johan faktiskt hade öppnat långsamt.
it was door.the that Johan as-a-matter-of-fact had opened slowly
A case where there is an almost total correspondence between the main clause word order and the embedded word order (with the finite verb in second position in main clauses corresponding to a subjunction in embedded clauses), is in direct and indirect questions. In direct and indirect yes/no-questions the finite field is clause initial:
(3) a. Hittade han faktiskt pengarna under sängen?
found he actually money.the under bed.the
b. (Jag undrar) om han faktiskt hittade pengarna under sängen.
I wonder if he actually found money.the under bed.the
Direct and indirect wh-questions both have a wh-word in first position; as in clefts, the subjunction is optional (and often avoided, which is indicated by double parentheses) when something other than the subject is questioned:
(4) a. Vem hittade faktiskt pengarna under sängen?
who found actually money.the under bed.the
b. (Jag undrar) vem som faktiskt hittade pengarna under sängen.
I wonder who that actually found money.the under bed.the
c. Vad hittade han faktiskt under sängen?
what found he actually under bed.the
d. (Jag undrar) vad ((som)) han faktiskt hittade under sängen
I wonder what that he actually found under bed.the
e. Var hittade han faktiskt pengarna?
where found he actually money.the
f. (Jag undrar) var ((som)) han faktiskt hittade pengarna.
I wonder where that he actually found money.the
General
Every simple declarative or interrogative clause consists of two major constituents, a subject and a predicate consisting minimally of a tensed verb. The subject is a noun phrase, and together with the tensed verb it forms the nucleus of the clause. When there is only one noun phrase together with a tensed verb, this noun phrase is the subject as in John is sick, He likes to swim. When there is more than one noun phrase in the clause, the subject is almost always the one that refers to the actor of the event: John threw the ball away, This book, John has written. If there is no actor, the subject is usually the one who experiences something, He heard the car. The subject can also be an expletive, as in It is hard to understand,There were three men in the garden.
Swedish
Every Swedish clause with a tensed verb must have a subject:
| (1) Hankommer. | (2) Pojken öppnade dörren. | (3) Regnade detigår? |
| he comes | boy.the opened door.the | rained it yesterday |
| He is coming- | The boy opened the door. | Did it rain yesterday? |
The specific subject position is immediately after the finite position, as illustrated in (4). Since any clausal element may be in first position, the subject may also occur first, as in (1), (2) and (4a), or immediately after the tensed verb, as in (3) and (4b). In a subordinate clause the subject is usually found immediately after the subjunction as in (4c).
(4) First position Finite Subject Rest of the clause
a. Anneli älskar mig
Anneli loves me
b. Troligen älskar Anneli mig
probably loves Anneli me
c. Jag tror att Anneli älskar mig.
I believe that Anneli loves me
The subject may also occur after the sentence adverbial, or between several sentence adverbials:
(5) a. Pojkarna hade ju förmodligen faktiskt inte läst böckerna.
boys.the had of-course probably actually not read books.the
b. Så hade pojkarna ju förmodligen faktiskt inte läst böckerna.
then had boys.the of-course probably actually not read books.the
c. Så hade ju pojkarna förmodligen faktiskt inte läst böckerna.
d. Så hade ju förmodligen pojkarna faktiskt inte läst böckerna.
e. Så hade ju förmodligen faktiskt pojkarna inte läst böckerna.
f. Så hade ju förmodligen faktiskt inte pojkarna läst böckerna.
When the subject is a pronoun, it is in the specific "subject" case (Nominative), cf. han ’he’ in (1), and compare (6a) with (6b):
(6) a. Han älskar henne. b. Hon älskar honom.
he loves her she loves him
There is no corresponding form difference for nouns.
1.5. SENTENTIAL ADVERBIALS
General
Sentential adverbials modify the content of the clause or convey the speaker’s comment on the content of what he is saying. Naturally he is going to emigrate. Frankly, he has not got a chance. Of course, nobody will listen to him. They obviously expected us to be on time.
Swedish
Swedish sentential adverbials have the same structures as other adverbials, see the list in (1):
(1) a. Adverb phrase: likaså ‘likewise’, förmodligen ‘presumably’, åtminstone ‘at least’
b. Adjective phrase: säkert ‘certainly’, naturligtvis ‘naturally’, möjligen ‘possibly’
c. Participial phrase: glädjande nog ‘fortunately enough’, självfallet ‘obviously’
d. Prepositional phrase: bland annat ‘among other things’, för all del ‘by all means’
e. Subordinate clauses: vad jag vet ‘as far as I know’, när allt kommer omkring ’after all’
Sententical adverbials may occur clause initially, clause finally, or in the middle field:
| First position | Finite | Subject | Sent. advl. | Verb | Object. | Content advl. |
| JohanJohan | harhas | | troligenprobably | träffatmet | AnnaAnna | |
| Troligenprobably | harhas | JohanJohan | | träffatmet | AnnaAnna | |
| JohanJohan | harhas | | | träffatmet | AnnaAnna | såvitt jag vetas far as I know |
The main types of Swedish sentential adverbials are:
a. Modal adverbials, show the speaker’s attitude to the statement, his involvement or reservation, degree of certainty, etc. This group includes some unstressed modal particles like ju ‘you know, of course’, nog ‘enough, sufficient’, väl ‘well’, as well as ordinary adverbs like sannolikt ‘likely’, tyvärr ‘unfortunately’, minsann ‘indeed’.
b. Conjunctional adverbials signal the logical relation between two propositions: dessutom ‘beside’, däremot ‘on the contrary’ alltså ‘thus’,nämligen ‘you see’.
c. Focalizing adverbials indicate that it is surprising etc. that the proposition holds for a particular referent in a class of referents: bara ‘only, just’,framför allt ‘above all’ åtminstone ‘at least’, bland annat ‘among other things’.
d. Negating adverbials deny the truth of the proposition: inte ’not’.
When more than one sentential adverbial occurs in the middle field, there is usually a strict order:
| X | Modal particle | Conjunctional adverbial | Modal adverbial | Focalizing adverbial | Negating adverbial | Y |
| Anna harAnna has | juof course | emellertidhowever | sannoliktprobably | | intenot | gjort detdone it |
| Han villhe wants | välwell | ändåstill | kanskemaybe | barajust | intenot | skrattalaugh |
The most common sentence adverbs in written Swedish: inte ‘not’, också ‘also’, även ‘also’, bara ‘just, only’, kanske ‘maybe’, ju ‘you know, of course’, därför ‘therefore‘, emellertid ‘thus’, just ‘just, exactly’, endast ‘only’.
General
When the speaker wishes to deny the truth of something, he uses a negative clause (see Negated affirmative, 1.9.1.2), usually containing the negation:He definitely has not taken the job. Occasionally a negative word does not apply to the clause as a whole, but to a phrase or a part of a phrase elsewhere in the clause (constituent negation): They lived in a not very attractive house. He is not often happy. In the room he found not a dog but a cat.
Swedish
Swedish has three negations, inte, icke, ej, all meaning ‘not’. Inte is the most commonly used negation in Swedish. Both icke and ej are restricted to formal written language, icke is also found in compounds, where neither inte nor ej may be used: icke-våld ‘non-violence. Other words with negative meanings are ingalunda ‘by no means’, knappt, knappast ‘hardly’, omöjligen ‘not possibly’.
Syntactically, the Swedish negation is used as a sentence adverbial. When there are more than one sentence adverbial in a clause, the negation is the last one. Like other sentence adverbials the negation may also be the first element of the clause:
(1) a. Han öppnade inte dörren.
he opened not door.the
b. Han öppnade faktiskt inte dörren.
he opened as-a-matter-of-fact not door.the
(2) a. Nu kan han inte öppna dörren.
now can he not open door.the
b. Nu kan han nog tyvärr inte öppna dörren.
now can he probably unfortunately not open door.the
(3) Jag tror att han numera inte gillar kaffe.
I believe that he now not likes coffee
(4) Inte regnar det idag, väl.
not rains it today,well
It does not rain today, does it?
Swedish uses the negation inte also to negate a constituent, as in (5):
(5) a. Det var inte Johan utan Anna som öppnade dörren.
it was not Johan but Anna who opened door.the
b. Han hade inte längre någon bil.
he had not longer any car
General
The final part of the clause, following the sentential adverbials in the middle part, is called the verb phrase. With respect to word order, the most obvious difference within the group of Germanic languages is found here: in German and Dutch, the verb phrase begins with adverbials for time, location, manner and other content adverbials, followed by the object and the infinite verb. Cf. the following German example, where the verb phrase is underlined, with double underlining of the head: Ich muss morgen im Warenhaus ein Buch gekaufen. Compare the word order of the corresponding English example: I must buy a book at the department store tomorrow. Generally speaking, this means that the German and Dutch verb phrase is verb final, whereas the verb phrase of the other Germanic languages is verb initial.
Swedish
The Swedish verb phrase is verb initial. It begins either with an auxiliary or a main verb. In main clauses where the tensed verb (auxiliary or main verb) is in the finite position and thus not in the verb phrase, (Swedish being a verb second language), the verb phrase lacks a verb or begins with a non-finite verb (Nu har han nog stigit på tåget ’now has he probably got on the train’, Nu steg han på tåget ’now got he on the train’.)
The order of elements in the Swedish verb phrase is given in the scheme below. Directly following the verb is the
verbal particle, which forms a separable compound with the verb. If there is an
indirect object, this follows next, preceding a position where we find the
subjectpredicative complement, the
direct object or the
associate subject; see the last example below for a case with both an indirect object and an associate subject. The
object predicative complementand the
infinitive of the object with infinitive construction share a position, followed by a field for
bound content adverbials (
Han bor i Lund ‘he lives in Lund’) and
prepositional objects (
Han ser på henne ‘he is looking at her’). Finally there is a field for
free content adverbials and
postponed phrases.
| Verb | Particle | Ind. obj. | Direct object,etc. | Object predicativesetc. | Bound adverbials | Free advls,Postponed phrases |
| kastathrow | utout | | en bolla ball | | | på planenin field.the |
| bör geshould give | | honomhim | en boka book | | | på födelsedagenat his birthday |
| målapaint | | | husetthe house | röttred | | |
| hoppajump | uppup | | en katta cat | | på bordetat the table | framför hennein-front-of her |
| sesee | | | honomhim | kommacome | | |
| tatake | ifrånaway from | honomhim | körkortetdriver license.the | | | genastimmediatelyt |
| tilldelatsgiven | | henneher | en belöninga reward | | | av konungenby the king |
