Learn Hardcore Swedish: Förresten undrar jag om du kan föreslå ett bra café i centrum. - By the way, I wonder if you can recommend a good café in the city center.

Putting it first ( Förresten undrar jag... ) makes it clear you’re adding something to an ongoing conversation.
You could also say:
- Jag undrar förresten om du kan föreslå…
- Jag undrar om du förresten kan föreslå… (less common, but possible)

All are grammatically correct. Starting with Förresten is very natural and sounds conversational, just like starting with By the way in English.

Why is it undrar jag and not jag undrar after Förresten?

Swedish main clauses generally follow the V2 rule: the finite verb should be in second position in the clause.

In Förresten undrar jag om…:

Förresten = first element
undrar (the verb) = second position
jag (the subject) = comes after the verb

If you don’t put any word or phrase in front, you get:

Jag undrar om du kan föreslå…
- Here, jag is the first element, so the verb undrar comes second.

Both are correct; the difference is just what you put in the initial slot of the sentence.

What exactly does undrar mean here? Is it like wonder or ask?

Undrar literally corresponds to wonder, but in Swedish it’s often used where English uses I was wondering / I’d like to ask.

Jag undrar om du kan föreslå…
= I wonder if you can suggest…
But functionally it’s like saying: Could you recommend…?

If you say jag frågar, you’re focusing more directly on the act of asking a question.
Jag undrar is a bit softer and more tentative, like a polite introduction to a request.

What does om mean in undrar jag om du kan föreslå…?

Here om means if / whether and introduces a subordinate clause.

Jag undrar om du kan föreslå…
= I wonder if you can suggest… / I’m wondering whether you can suggest…

So it’s not about (another meaning of om, as in en bok om musik = a book about music), but the if/whether type of om.

Why is the word order om du kan föreslå and not om kan du föreslå?

In subordinate clauses (clauses introduced by om, att, eftersom, etc.), Swedish usually follows subject–verb order, not V2.

So:

om du kan föreslå
- om = subordinator
- du = subject
- kan = verb
om kan du föreslå is incorrect in standard Swedish.

The V2 rule (verb in second place) mainly applies to main clauses, not subordinate ones.

What’s the difference between föreslå and something like rekommendera?

Both can translate as suggest / recommend, but there’s a nuance:

föreslå = suggest / propose
- Often about proposing an option or idea.
- Kan du föreslå ett bra café? = Can you suggest a good café?
rekommendera = recommend
- Slightly stronger, more like giving advice or endorsement.
- Kan du rekommendera ett bra café? = Can you recommend a good café?

In this sentence, föreslå and rekommendera are both natural; föreslå sounds very neutral and common.

Why is it kan föreslå and not something like skulle kunna föreslå?

Kan föreslå literally means can suggest and is already polite in Swedish.

om du kan föreslå = if you can suggest
- Normal, neutral politeness.

You can make it even more tentative/polite with conditionals:

om du skulle kunna föreslå ett bra café…
= if you could perhaps suggest a good café…

This sounds slightly more formal or extra polite, similar to English I was wondering if you could…

Why is it ett bra café and not en bra café?

In Swedish, every noun is either an en-word (common gender) or ett-word (neuter gender).
Café is an ett-word:

ett café (an/one café)
ett bra café (a good café)

So:

en bra café = incorrect
ett bra café = correct

Some other ett nouns: ett hus (a house), ett rum (a room), ett språk (a language). The gender just has to be memorized.

Why is there no article like centrumet? Why just i centrum?

Centrum is grammatically an ett-word noun, but in place expressions it’s very often used without the article, functioning a bit like an adverbial:

i centrum = in the city center / downtown (general place)

If you say i centrumet, it sounds like you’re talking about a specific, delimited center, for example the center of a building or something conceptual. For the usual city center meaning, Swedes normally just say:

i centrum
or i stan (in town / in the city), depending on context.

Is i centrum the same as i stan?

Not exactly, though they often overlap in everyday speech.

i centrum
- Focuses on the central area of a town/city (the downtown, main shopping area, etc.).
i stan (stan = colloquial form of staden, the city/town)
- Means in town / in the city, more generally. It can include more than just the center.

For cafés, both ett bra café i centrum and ett bra café i stan are common; the first emphasizes central location a bit more clearly.

Could I say Förresten, kan du föreslå ett bra café i centrum? instead?

Yes, absolutely. That’s a very natural alternative.

Förresten, undrar jag om du kan föreslå…
- Slightly more indirect/polite: I’m wondering if you can suggest…
Förresten, kan du föreslå ett bra café i centrum?
- More direct question: By the way, can you suggest a good café in the center?

Both are correct; the original is just a bit softer due to jag undrar om….

Is Förresten formal, informal, or neutral?

Förresten is informal to neutral and very common in speech and casual writing.

In more formal writing, people might use alternatives like:

För övrigt
I övrigt
or just restructure the text instead of using a by the way marker.

But in everyday conversation, Förresten… at the start of a sentence is completely natural and very frequent.

How do you pronounce café and centrum in Swedish?

café
- Stress on the second syllable: ka-FÉ
- The é is pronounced like a clear e in say, but shorter.
centrum
- Stress on the first syllable: CEN-trum
- c before e is pronounced like s, so roughly SEN-trum.