Vem vill slå tärningen först?

Vem means who.

In modern Swedish, vem is normally used both where English uses who and where older/formal English might use whom. So Swedish does not usually make that distinction in everyday speech.

Examples:

• Vem vill spela? = Who wants to play?
• Vem såg du? = Who did you see?

Vill is the present tense of vilja, which means to want.

So:

• vilja = to want
• vill = want / wants

Swedish present-tense verbs do not change for different persons the way English does. So the same form vill is used with jag, du, han, vi, and so on.

Examples:

• Jag vill = I want
• Du vill = you want
• Vem vill = who wants

Because vilja is followed by the bare infinitive.

After verbs like vilja, Swedish usually does not use att before the next verb.

So:

• vill slå = wants to roll
• not vill att slå

This works much like English want to, except Swedish leaves out the extra marker here.

Other similar patterns:

• kan spela = can play
• måste gå = must go
• vill läsa = want to read

Because vem is the question word, and vill is the finite verb.

In Swedish wh-questions, the finite verb normally comes very early in the sentence, usually right after the question word. Here the pattern is very natural:

• Vem = who
• vill = wants
• slå tärningen = roll the die
• först = first

So the structure is basically: question word + finite verb + rest of sentence

In this sentence, vem is also the subject, so the order feels quite close to English:

• Who wants to roll the die first?

Yes. Slå often does mean hit, strike, or beat, but in some expressions it has a more specialized meaning.

With dice, slå is commonly used to mean roll:

• slå tärningen = roll the die
• slå tärning = roll dice / throw a die in a game context

So this is an idiomatic use. It is something you simply learn as a fixed expression.

Tärningen is the definite singular form of tärning.

Forms:

• en tärning = a die
• tärningen = the die

In Swedish, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun as a suffix:

• -en here means the

So tärningen literally means the die.

This suggests the sentence is talking about a specific die already present in the situation, for example the die everyone is about to use in a game.

It means one die.

Swedish does not have the English irregular pair die / dice. Instead it uses regular singular and plural forms:

• en tärning = a die
• tärningen = the die
• tärningar = dice
• tärningarna = the dice

So in your sentence, it is singular: the die.

Yes. Both can exist, but they are slightly different in feel.

• slå tärning is a more general expression, like roll dice or roll a die
• slå tärningen points more directly to the specific die

So:

• Vem vill slå tärning först? = Who wants to roll first?
• Vem vill slå tärningen först? = Who wants to roll the die first?

The sentence with tärningen sounds like there is an actual die in front of the players.

Först means first.

It tells us about the order of actions: who wants to do it before the others.

Putting först at the end is very natural in Swedish. It modifies the action slå tärningen.

So the sentence means:

• Who wants to roll the die first?

Swedish often puts this kind of adverb near the end of the sentence.

This is a very common question.

• först is usually an adverb and means first
• första is an adjective/ordinal and means first before a noun

Examples:

• Jag går först. = I go first.
• den första spelaren = the first player

In your sentence, we need the adverb, because it describes when/in what order someone wants to roll:

• Vem vill slå tärningen först?

Not:

• Vem vill slå tärningen första?

You might hear or say kasta tärningen, and people would understand it, since kasta means throw. But slå is the more idiomatic verb in this game-related expression.

So for natural Swedish, slå tärningen or slå tärning is the better choice.

A good rule:

• kasta = physically throw
• slå tärning / slå tärningen = roll a die in a game context