Hon beställde kaffe utan att titta på menyn.

She ordered coffee without looking at the menu.

Breakdown of Hon beställde kaffe utan att titta på menyn.

• kaffet: the coffee
• hon: she
• titta på: to look at
• beställa: to order
• menyn: the menu
• utan att: without

Questions & Answers about Hon beställde kaffe utan att titta på menyn.

What tense is the verb beställde, and how do you conjugate beställa?

• beställde is the simple past (preterite).
• Conjugation:
  • Infinitive: beställa
  • Present: beställer
  • Past (preterite): beställde
  • Supine (used with har): beställt
  • Past participle (adjectival): beställd/beställt/beställda
• It’s a regular Group 2a verb.

Why is it utan att titta and not utan att tittar?

• After att (the particle “to”), Swedish uses the infinitive form of the verb.
• So it must be att titta (infinitive), not tittar (present).

Why is it titta på menyn and not just titta menyn?

• The verb titta normally needs the preposition på to take an object: titta på något = look at something.
• Alternatives:
  • se på (watch/look at), slightly more neutral or passive.
  • Colloquial: kolla på.

Why is it menyn and not meny?

• menyn is the definite singular (“the menu”). The situation implies a specific menu present at the table.
• Forms of meny:
  • Indefinite singular: en meny
  • Definite singular: menyn
  • Indefinite plural: menyer
  • Definite plural: menyerna

Why is there no article before kaffe? Can I say en kaffe or ett kaffe?

• kaffe is typically a mass noun, so no article is needed when speaking generally: beställde kaffe.
• For “a coffee (one cup)”:
  • Dictionary gender is neuter: ett kaffe.
  • In cafés, colloquial en kaffe is very common (short for en kopp kaffe). Both are widely accepted in speech.

What does utan att do exactly, and how is it different from just utan?

• utan att
  • infinitive = “without doing [something]”: utan att titta.
• utan by itself:
  • As a preposition with nouns: kaffe utan mjölk (coffee without milk).
  • As a conjunction meaning “but rather” after a negation: Inte te, utan kaffe (Not tea, but rather coffee).

Can I move the utan att phrase to the front of the sentence?

• Yes. For emphasis: Utan att titta på menyn beställde hon kaffe.
• The meaning stays the same; this is a common word-order variation in Swedish.

What’s the difference between titta, se, and kolla here?

• titta (på) = actively look at; default for “look at the menu.”
• se (på) = to see/watch; more passive or neutral perception.
• kolla (på) = colloquial “check/look at.”
• In this context, titta på menyn is the most idiomatic.

Could I say utan att ha tittat på menyn instead? What’s the nuance?

• utan att ha tittat (perfect infinitive) emphasizes that the “not looking” was completed before the ordering.
• Both utan att titta and utan att ha tittat fit here; the latter is slightly more explicit about sequence.

What about beställde in vs just beställde?

• beställa in is often used in restaurant contexts for “order in (to the table)”: Hon beställde in kaffe.
• beställde alone is also fine and common; in just adds a “bring to the table” nuance.

Is utan och titta ever acceptable?

• In relaxed speech you may hear utan och (because att and och sound similar), but in standard/written Swedish you should use utan att.

Why is it på menyn and not i menyn?

• titta på menyn = look at the menu (the object/surface or the list as a whole) — default choice.
• titta i menyn can occur when the menu is book-like and you’re browsing inside it, and is also common with computer/phone menus (“in the menu”). For a board or a typical quick look, på is more idiomatic.

Pronunciation tips for tricky sounds like ä and y in this sentence?

• ä (as in beställde) ≈ the vowel in English “bed,” often a bit longer/tenser.
• y (as in menyn) = front rounded vowel (like German ü or French u).
• Double consonants (as in kaffe) signal a short preceding vowel: the first syllable of kaffe has a short a.

Could I say Hon beställde kaffet here?

• kaffet = “the coffee” (a specific coffee already known/mentioned). In this context—ordering something unspecified—use bare kaffe (or en/ett kaffe when you mean one cup).

Can I say utan att hon tittade på menyn?

• No. utan att must be followed by an infinitive, not a finite clause.
• Correct: utan att titta på menyn.
• If you need a finite clause, rephrase (e.g., … utan att hon behövde titta på menyn, “without her needing to look at the menu”).

Why is there no comma before utan att titta på menyn?

• Swedish normally does not use a comma before an infinitive phrase like utan att
  • verb.
• Commas are used more sparingly than in English; this structure flows without one.

What’s the pronoun hon, and could I use hen?

• hon = “she.”
• hen is a gender-neutral singular pronoun in modern Swedish; you could use hen if the person’s gender is unknown or irrelevant: Hen beställde kaffe utan att titta på menyn.