Learn Hardcore Swedish: Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe.

sitter och dricker = are sitting and drinking, with a strong sense of “right now, in the middle of doing this”.
Just Vi dricker kaffe can mean either:
- We drink coffee (a general habit), or
- We are drinking coffee (now), depending on context.

By adding sitter, you make it very clear that it’s a current, ongoing scene and also give a physical “picture” (they are sitting, not standing, walking, etc.).

Other common posture verbs used this way are:

står och (are standing and …)
ligger och (are lying and …)
går och (are walking around and … / go and …)

Does Swedish have a special “present continuous” form like “are drinking” in English?

Swedish does not have a separate grammatical form for the English -ing tense. The present tense covers both:

Vi dricker kaffe.
= We drink coffee (habit)
or We are drinking coffee (right now)

To make the “right now” idea clearer, Swedes often use constructions like:

Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe.
(We’re sitting there, drinking coffee.)
Vi håller på att dricka kaffe.
(We’re in the middle of drinking coffee.)

So sitter där och dricker is one of the natural Swedish ways to express a clear ongoing action, similar to English “are sitting there drinking”.

Why use sitter instead of är (are)? Can I say Vi är där och dricker kaffe?

You can say Vi är där och dricker kaffe, and it is grammatically correct. But it is less specific and less vivid.

Vi är där och dricker kaffe.
= We are there and we are drinking coffee. (Focus on simply being there.)
Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe.
= We are sitting there and drinking coffee. (Gives a visual image of how you are there.)

In everyday Swedish, är + verb is not used in the same way as English “are + -ing”.
Instead, Swedes prefer:

just the present tense (Vi dricker kaffe), or
descriptive verbs like sitter, står, ligger, combined with och + verb.

So sitter adds both aspect (ongoing) and posture (how you are positioned).

Do we have to be literally sitting, or can Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe be more figurative?

Most of the time, sitter is meant literally: you are actually sitting down.

However, like in English (“We’re sitting around talking”), it can be a bit flexible and idiomatic. For example:

Vi sitter bara här och väntar.
= We’re just sitting here waiting. (You are indeed seated, but the focus is on “just hanging around”.)

But you wouldn’t normally use sitter if people are in a completely different posture (e.g. walking around). Then you’d switch to:

Vi står där och dricker kaffe. (We’re standing there drinking coffee.)
Vi går där och dricker kaffe. (We’re walking there, drinking coffee.)

So in your sentence the default reading is that they really are sitting.

Why is it kaffe with no article? Could I say Vi sitter där och dricker ett kaffe?

In Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe, the word kaffe is used as a mass noun (like “water” or “wine”):

dricker kaffe = drink coffee (coffee in general, an unspecified amount)

No article is needed in this mass-noun usage.

You can say en kaffe or ett kaffe in colloquial speech to mean “a coffee (one cup / one serving)”:

Jag tar en kaffe.
= I’ll have a coffee.

This is common in cafés, but it’s more about one portion than the drink as a substance.

So:

dricker kaffe → drinking coffee (mass, general)
dricker en kaffe → drinking one coffee (one cup / serving, casual style)

In your sentence, the neutral, most natural version is dricker kaffe.

Can I say Vi sitter och dricker kaffe där instead? Does the word order change the meaning?

Yes, both are possible:

Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe.
Vi sitter och dricker kaffe där.

They are both correct, and the meaning is essentially the same. The difference is in focus and what sounds more neutral:

Version 1 (där earlier) is the most natural and common way to say it. It slightly emphasizes where you are before what you’re doing.
Version 2 (där at the end) can sound like you’re adding “there” as extra information, as if answering a question like:
– Vad gör ni? (What are you doing?)
– Vi sitter och dricker kaffe där. (We’re sitting and drinking coffee there.)

In everyday speech, Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe will usually be the default choice.

Why do we need och between sitter and dricker? Could I say Vi sitter där dricker kaffe?

You must have och here. Without it, the sentence is incorrect:

✅ Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe.
❌ Vi sitter där dricker kaffe.

Reason: sitter and dricker are two finite verbs (both are present tense). In Swedish, when you coordinate two full verbs with the same subject, you normally connect them with och:

Vi äter och dricker. (We eat and drink.)
Hon sitter och läser. (She sits and reads / She’s sitting and reading.)
De står och pratar. (They’re standing and talking.)

If you remove och, it sounds like something is missing grammatically.

Why are both sitter and dricker in the present tense? Should one of them be an infinitive with att?

In Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe, both sitter and dricker are in the present tense:

sitta → sitter
dricka → dricker

They are coordinated with och, which works like English “and”:

“We sit there and drink coffee.”

You only use att + infinitive when you have constructions like:

Vi ska sitta där och dricka kaffe.
(“We are going to sit there and drink coffee.” → sitta, dricka are infinitives after ska in deeper structure, but surface form here is present because of coordination.)

Or more clearly:

Vi gillar att dricka kaffe.
(We like to drink coffee.)

In your sentence, sitter and dricker are just two ordinary present-tense verbs joined by och, so no att is needed.

Can the subject pronoun vi be dropped, like in Spanish or Italian?

No. Swedish normally requires the subject pronoun:

✅ Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe.
❌ Sitter där och dricker kaffe. (Feels incomplete unless it’s an imperative or a very special context.)

Swedish is not a “pro‑drop” language. You don’t usually omit jag, du, vi, ni, han, hon, de, etc., except in certain informal phrases or answers where the subject is extremely clear from context.

So you should keep vi in this sentence.

What is the difference between Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe and Vi sitter där och dricker kaffet?

The change from kaffe to kaffet (definite form) changes the meaning slightly:

Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe.
= We’re sitting there drinking coffee (coffee in general, unspecified).
Vi sitter där och dricker kaffet.
= We’re sitting there drinking the coffee.
(A specific coffee that has already been mentioned or is clearly known in the context.)

Examples:

You arrive somewhere and say in general what you’re doing → dricker kaffe.
Someone brought a specific pot of coffee and you refer back to it → dricker kaffet.

So both are correct; the choice depends on whether you mean “coffee in general” or “that particular coffee”.