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Ingen vill vara sjuk.

Ingen vill vara sjuk.
No one wants to be sick.
FromLesson 6inHardcore Swedish
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Breakdown of Ingen vill vara sjuk.

vara
to be
vilja
to want
sjuk
sick
ingen
no one

Questions & Answers about Ingen vill vara sjuk.

What role does ingen play here?
It’s an indefinite pronoun meaning “no one/nobody,” and it’s the subject of the sentence. In pronominal use like this, ingen normally refers to people.
How do ingen, inget, and inga differ?
  • ingen = “no” with a common-gender noun, or “no one” as a pronoun: Ingen vill …
  • inget = “no” with a neuter noun: Inget barn vill …
  • inga = “no” with plural nouns: Inga barn vill … Examples:
  • Ingen vill vara sjuk. (No one wants to be sick.)
  • Inget barn vill vara sjukt. (No child—neuter—wants to be sick.)
  • Inga barn vill vara sjuka. (No children want to be sick.)
Why is there no att before vara?
After Swedish modal verbs (e.g., vill, ska, kan, måste, bör), the infinitive appears without att. So it’s “vill vara,” not “vill att vara.”
Why vara and not är?

After a modal like vill, you must use the infinitive: vara. The finite form är can’t follow a modal. Compare:

  • Ingen vill vara sjuk. (correct)
  • Ingen vill är sjuk. (incorrect)
Could I say Ingen vill bli sjuk instead? What’s the difference?

Yes.

  • vara sjuk = “be in the state of being sick.”
  • bli sjuk = “become/get sick.” So “Ingen vill bli sjuk” means no one wants to fall ill, while “Ingen vill vara sjuk” means no one wants to be (remain) ill.
Should sjuk agree with anything here? Why not sjuka or sjukt?

Predicative adjectives agree with the subject:

  • With pronominal ingen (referring to a person), use common-gender singular: sjuk.
  • Neuter singular: Inget barn är sjukt.
  • Plural: Inga barn är sjuka.
Can I use plural inga here: “Inga vill vara sjuka”?
Only if you’re referring to a specific, previously mentioned group in the plural: “Av deltagarna ville inga vara sjuka.” As a general statement about people in general, Swedish uses singular pronominal ingen: “Ingen vill vara sjuk.”
Where would an adverb go? For example, “really.”

In main clauses, the finite verb is in second position (V2), and sentential adverbs typically come right after it. With a modal, that puts the adverb between the modal and the infinitive:

  • Ingen vill verkligen vara sjuk.
  • I morgon vill ingen verkligen vara sjuk.
How do I turn this into a yes/no question?

Invert subject and verb:

  • Vill ingen vara sjuk?
Is “Ingen vill inte vara sjuk” OK?

No in Standard Swedish. That’s a double negation and is ungrammatical or changes the meaning oddly. If you mean “Not everyone wants to be sick,” say:

  • Alla vill inte vara sjuka. (Not all do.) To negate a positive subject like “alla,” place inte after the finite verb.
How is vill formed? Why no -r?

Vill is the irregular present tense of vilja (“to want”). It does not take -r.

  • Pres: vill
  • Past: ville
  • Supine: velat
Pronunciation tips?
  • ingen: [ˈɪŋɛn] (ng = [ŋ] like in “sing,” then a hard g that’s part of the [ŋg]-sequence).
  • vill: [vɪl] (short i).
  • vara: [ˈvɑːra] (long a).
  • sjuk: approx. [ɧʉːk]. The “sj” sound [ɧ] is a breathy “sh” made further back; “u” is a fronted long [ʉː].
Could I say “No one would like to be sick” in Swedish?

Use the conditional for politeness/hypothetical:

  • Ingen skulle vilja vara sjuk. (softer/more hypothetical than “Ingen vill …”)
What’s the difference between ingen and inte någon?

They mean the same (“no one”), but ingen is the normal, neutral choice. Inte någon is more emphatic or contrastive:

  • Ingen vill vara sjuk. (neutral)
  • Det är inte någon som vill vara sjuk. (emphatic)
I see att elsewhere, e.g., “Jag tror att ingen vill vara sjuk.” Is that the same att?
No. Here att is a complementizer (“that”), not the infinitive marker. The rule “no att after modals” still applies inside that clause: “att ingen vill vara …” not “att ingen vill att vara …”.

More from this lesson

Får jag ringa dig nu?Du får inte komma sent.bordeVi borde börja nu.sjukDu borde stanna hemma om du är sjuk.friskHon är sjuk idag, men imorgon är hon frisk.
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