Hunden får sprutan utan att bita veterinären.

Hunden means the dog. Swedish adds the definite article to the end of the noun:

• en hund = a dog
• hunden = the dog

So hund by itself would mean just dog in a dictionary-style sense, not a complete noun phrase in this sentence.

For the same reason as hunden: sprutan is the definite form, meaning the injection / the shot.

• en spruta = an injection / a syringe / a shot
• sprutan = the injection / the shot

In this sentence, a specific shot is meant, so Swedish uses the definite form.

Here får means gets or receives.

It is the present tense of få, which can mean several things depending on context, such as:

• get / receive
• may / be allowed to
• sometimes have to, in certain expressions

In this sentence, Hunden får sprutan means The dog gets the shot or The dog receives the injection.

In Swedish, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of appearing as a separate word.

So:

• the dog → hunden
• the veterinarian → veterinären
• the shot → sprutan

English uses a separate article (the), but Swedish often uses a suffix instead.

Utan att means without when followed by a verb.

Examples:

• utan att bita = without biting
• utan att säga något = without saying anything
• utan att komma för sent = without arriving late

So in your sentence, utan att bita veterinären means without biting the veterinarian.

Because in Swedish, when utan is followed by a verb, you normally use att + infinitive.

So:

• utan att bita = without biting
• utan att äta = without eating
• utan att sova = without sleeping

This is a very common pattern. English uses without + -ing, while Swedish uses utan att + infinitive.

Because after att, Swedish uses the infinitive form of the verb.

• bita = to bite / bite (infinitive)
• biter = bites / is biting (present tense)

Since the structure is utan att + infinitive, the correct form is utan att bita.

The sentence naturally implies that the dog is the one who might bite.

So:

• Hunden får sprutan utan att bita veterinären. = The dog gets the shot without biting the veterinarian.

In Swedish, as in English, the subject of the main clause is usually understood to be the subject of the utan att phrase unless context clearly suggests otherwise.

Swedish nouns do not change form for subject and object the way nouns do in some other languages.

So veterinären can be:

• the subject: Veterinären kommer. = The veterinarian is coming.
• the object: Hunden biter veterinären. = The dog bites the veterinarian.

You know it is the object here because of the word order and meaning, not because of a special accusative ending.

In modern Swedish, nouns are usually grouped as common gender (en words) or neuter (ett words), not masculine/feminine in the way many learners expect.

Veterinär is a common-gender noun:

• en veterinär = a veterinarian
• veterinären = the veterinarian

So it does not specifically mean male veterinarian. It can refer to any veterinarian unless context says otherwise.

Yes. Spruta can refer to:

• a syringe
• an injection
• a shot

In a sentence like this, får sprutan is most naturally understood as gets the shot / gets the injection, not literally gets the syringe.

Yes, this is normal Swedish word order.

The sentence is built like this:

• Hunden = subject
• får = verb
• sprutan = object
• utan att bita veterinären = additional phrase

So the pattern is basically:

Subject + verb + object + phrase

This is very natural Swedish word order for a main clause.

Yes, but the meaning changes slightly.

• Hunden får sprutan = The dog gets the shot / a specific shot
• Hunden får en spruta = The dog gets a shot / one shot, less specific

Both are grammatical. The version with sprutan sounds like a particular, known injection.

Because the dog is not biting itself; it is biting the veterinarian.

• bita veterinären = bite the veterinarian
• bita sig would mean something like bite oneself

Since there is a direct object, veterinären, no reflexive pronoun is needed.

Yes. Just like in English, the sentence can sound slightly humorous because it highlights a good outcome: the dog gets a shot without biting the vet.

So it is grammatically ordinary, but pragmatically it may suggest that biting was a real possibility.