Learn Hardcore Swedish: Mamman hämtar barnen om tio minuter. - The mother will pick up the children in ten minutes.

Swedish often uses the present tense for near or scheduled future events. Mamman hämtar barnen om tio minuter naturally means “The mother will pick up the children in ten minutes.” You could also say:

Mamman ska hämta barnen om tio minuter (intention/plan)
Mamman kommer att hämta barnen om tio minuter (neutral prediction)

Can I move the time phrase to the beginning? What happens to word order?

Yes. Swedish main clauses are V2 (the finite verb is in second position). If you front the time phrase, the verb stays second and the subject moves after it:

Om tio minuter hämtar mamman barnen. Both this and the original are correct; the fronted version emphasizes the timing.

Why are there no separate words for “the” (like “the mother,” “the children”)?

Swedish usually marks definiteness with an ending on the noun:

mamman = the mother (from mamma)
barnen = the children (from barn) You use a separate article only when there’s an adjective: den snälla mamman (“the kind mother”). This is called “double definiteness.”

What’s going on with barnen? Why that ending?

Barn is irregular:

ett barn = a child (singular, indefinite)
barnet = the child (singular, definite)
barn = children (plural, indefinite)
barnen = the children (plural, definite) So barnen is “the children.”

Why is it minuter and not minuterna?

With numbers you use the plural indefinite form: tio minuter (“ten minutes”). Forms:

en minut (a minute), minuten (the minute)
minuter (minutes), minuterna (the minutes)

How does the verb hämta conjugate?

It doesn’t change for person/number:

Infinitive: att hämta
Present: hämtar (I/you/she/they all use hämtar)
Preterite (past): hämtade
Supine: hämtat (e.g., har hämtat = have picked up)
Future-like: ska hämta, kommer att hämta

Is there a difference between hämta, hämta upp, and plocka upp?

hämta is the neutral, most common “fetch/pick up.”
hämta upp exists but is less necessary; often you just use hämta.
plocka upp often means physically pick up (from the ground) but can also mean pick someone up by car in casual speech. For people, hämta is safest.

Does Mamman hämtar barnen mean she’s picking up her own kids?

Not necessarily. It means “the mother is picking up the children” (specific children known from context). To specify her own, use the reflexive possessive:

Mamman hämtar sina barn (“the mother is picking up her children”).

How do I negate this sentence?

Place inte after the finite verb:

Mamman hämtar inte barnen om tio minuter. This means she isn’t picking them up in ten minutes (perhaps later/earlier). For contrastive emphasis you can move things, but this is the neutral pattern.

Could I say Mamman vs mamma? What’s the nuance?

mamma = “mom/mum” (indefinite)
mamman = “the mom/mother” (definite; someone already known in context) In writing, Mamman is capitalized here only because it starts the sentence; Swedish doesn’t capitalize nouns in general.

Where can the time phrase go by default?

Two natural options:

End position: Mamman hämtar barnen om tio minuter. (very common)
Fronted for emphasis: Om tio minuter hämtar mamman barnen. Avoid splitting the verb and its object with the time phrase: Mamman hämtar om tio minuter barnen sounds odd.

What’s the difference between om tio minuter, i tio minuter, and “ten minutes ago”?

om tio minuter = in ten minutes (from now)
i tio minuter = for ten minutes (duration)
för tio minuter sedan = ten minutes ago Also: på tio minuter can mean “in ten minutes” as in “it took ten minutes” (time to complete): Hon blev klar på tio minuter.

How do I pronounce the tricky parts?

hämtar: the ä like the vowel in English “bed”; stress on the first syllable: HEM-tar.
barnen: long a (like “ah”), and the rn merges into a single retroflex sound; roughly “BAHR-nen.”
tio: like “TEE-oh” (often “TEE-uh” in fluent speech).
om: like “om” with a short, rounded “o.”

Is tio ever ti?

In casual speech many say ti. In standard writing you use tio.