Questions & Answers about Vi sitter där och dricker kaffe.
Why does Swedish say sitter och dricker instead of just dricker?
The pattern [posture verb] + och + another verb is very common in Swedish to emphasize an ongoing activity.
- 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”.