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Learn Hardcore Swedish: Vittnet pratar med polisen. - The witness talks with the police officer.

Hardcore Swedish
/Reporting a burglary to the police
/Vittnet pratar med polisen.

Vittnet pratar med polisen.

Vittnet pratar med polisen.

The witness talks with the police officer.

Breakdown of Vittnet pratar med polisen.

the police officer

Questions & Answers about Vittnet pratar med polisen.

Where is the word for the in this sentence?

In Swedish, the is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word.

vittnet = the witness
polisen = the police or the police officer, depending on context

So instead of a separate word like English the, Swedish often uses a suffix:

ett vittne = a witness
vittnet = the witness
en polis = a police officer
polisen = the police / the police officer

Why does vittnet end in -et?

Because the basic noun is vittne, and it is an ett-word in Swedish.

ett vittne = a witness
vittnet = the witness

For many ett-words, the definite singular ending is -et.

A useful thing to notice is that Swedish grammatical gender does not always match natural gender. Even though a witness is a person, vittne is still grammatically an ett-word.

Why does polisen end in -en instead of -et?

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Because polis is an en-word, not an ett-word.

en polis = a police officer
polisen = the police officer / the police

For many en-words, the definite singular ending is -en.

So the two endings in the sentence show the two noun genders:

vittne → vittnet
polis → polisen

Why is it pratar med? Why not just pratar polisen?

Because the verb prata normally uses med when you mean talk with / talk to someone.

prata med någon = talk to/with someone

So:

Vittnet pratar med polisen = The witness is talking to/with the police

If you leave out med, the sentence would not mean the same thing.

Compare:

prata med någon = talk to someone
prata om något = talk about something
prata svenska = speak Swedish

Does pratar mean talks, is talking, or speaks?

It can mean any of those, depending on context.

Swedish present tense often covers both:

English talks
English is talking

So Vittnet pratar med polisen could mean:

The witness talks to the police
The witness is talking to the police

In many real situations, English would most naturally use is talking here, but Swedish does not need a separate progressive form like English does.

Does the verb change depending on who is doing the action?

No. In modern Swedish, verbs do not change for person the way they do in some other languages.

So you get:

jag pratar = I talk / am talking
du pratar = you talk / are talking
han pratar = he talks / is talking
vittnet pratar = the witness talks / is talking
vi pratar = we talk / are talking

That makes Swedish verb conjugation simpler than English in some ways.

Why is the word order Vittnet pratar med polisen?

This is the normal word order for a basic main clause:

subject
- verb
  - other information

So here:

Vittnet = subject
pratar = verb
med polisen = prepositional phrase

Swedish is also a V2 language, which means the finite verb usually comes in the second position in main clauses.

For example:

Nu pratar vittnet med polisen. = Now the witness is talking to the police.

Here Nu comes first, so pratar still stays in second position.

Does polisen mean one police officer or the police in general?

It can mean either one, depending on context.

Very often, polisen means the police as an authority or institution. But in some contexts it can also mean the police officer.

So this sentence could be understood as:

the witness is speaking with the police in general
the witness is speaking with a specific police officer already known in the situation

If you want to be clearly indefinite, you would say:

Vittnet pratar med en polis. = The witness is talking to a police officer.

Is vittne a common way to say witness in Swedish?

Yes. Vittne is the standard word for witness.

It can be used in everyday situations and legal contexts.

Examples:

ett vittne till olyckan = a witness to the accident
vittnet berättade vad som hände = the witness told what happened

So in your sentence, vittnet is exactly the normal form you would expect.

How do you pronounce vittnet pratar med polisen?

A rough guide for an English speaker would be:

vittnet ≈ VIT-net
pratar ≈ PRAH-tar
med ≈ meh-d
polisen ≈ po-LEE-sen

A few helpful notes:

In vittnet, the i is short because of the double tt
The stress in polisen is on the last main part: po-LEE-sen
Swedish pronunciation varies a bit by region, so exact sound details can differ

If I wanted to say a witness talks to a police officer, how would the sentence change?

You would use the indefinite forms:

Ett vittne pratar med en polis.

Compare:

Vittnet pratar med polisen. = The witness is talking to the police / the police officer
Ett vittne pratar med en polis. = A witness is talking to a police officer

This is a good way to see the difference between indefinite and definite nouns in Swedish.

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