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Questions & Answers about Jag vill ha en annan bok.
What does Jag mean in this sentence?
Jag translates directly to I in English—it is the first person singular pronoun.
What role does vill play here?
Vill is a modal verb meaning want. It expresses desire and is used before another verb (in this case, ha), similar to how we say "I want" in English.
Why is ha used after vill, and what does it mean?
Ha means to have. In Swedish, when expressing a desire for something, the construction vill ha is common and literally means "want to have." Even though in English we simply say "I want another book," Swedish uses the combination to convey the idea.
Why is the indefinite article en used before annan bok?
Swedish nouns come in two genders: common (using en) and neuter (using ett). Since bok (book) is a common gender noun, the correct indefinite article is en.
What does annan mean and how does it agree with bok?
Annan means another or different. Adjectives in Swedish must agree in gender and number with the noun they modify. Here, since bok is singular and common gender, annan is the correct form.
How does the word order in Jag vill ha en annan bok compare to English?
The word order follows a similar subject-verb-object structure as in English. Jag (I) is the subject, vill (want) is the modal verb, ha (have) is the main action, and en annan bok (another book) is the object.
Are there other similar structures in Swedish using a modal verb plus a main verb without an explicit "to"?
Yes, Swedish often uses a modal verb directly followed by the bare infinitive. For example, Jag kan simma means I can swim, where kan (can) is the modal verb and simma (swim) is the main verb in its base form. This pattern is consistent with vill ha in the given sentence.