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Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer på kvällen.

Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer på kvällen.
We often talk about the future and our plans in the evening.

Breakdown of Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer på kvällen.

och
and
vi
we
ofta
often
prata
to talk
kvällen
the evening
på
in
vår
our
om
about
framtiden
the future
planen
the plan
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Questions & Answers about Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer på kvällen.

Why is the adverb ofta placed after the verb pratar, instead of before it like in English (“often talk”)?

In Swedish main clauses, the finite verb usually comes in second position (the V2 rule). Adverbs like ofta typically come after the verb.

Word order here is:

  • Vi (subject)
  • pratar (verb – must be in position 2)
  • ofta (adverb)
  • om framtiden och våra planer på kvällen (rest of the sentence)

So Vi pratar ofta … is the natural order. You normally cannot say ✗ Vi ofta pratar … in a main clause; that breaks the V2 rule.

You can move other elements around, but the verb still stays second, for example:

  • På kvällen pratar vi ofta om framtiden och våra planer.
    (Time phrase first → verb still in second place.)
Can ofta go in another position in this sentence?

Yes, there is some flexibility, but the verb must stay in second place.

Natural options include:

  • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer på kvällen. (neutral)
  • På kvällen pratar vi ofta om framtiden och våra planer. (emphasis on in the evening)
  • Vi pratar om framtiden och våra planer ofta på kvällen. (possible, but sounds a bit heavier / more marked)

What you normally cannot do in a main clause is:

  • ✗ Vi ofta pratar om framtiden … (verb not in second position)
  • ✗ Vi pratar om framtiden ofta och våra planer på kvällen. (this splits elements oddly and sounds wrong)

So: you can move time phrases and other parts, but keep the structure where the finite verb is second, and ofta usually follows that verb.

Why is it om framtiden? Which preposition goes with pratar when talking about topics?

With the verb prata (to talk, speak, chat), Swedish almost always uses the preposition om when you mention the topic:

  • prata om något = to talk about something

So:

  • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden …
    = We often talk about the future …

You would not say:

  • ✗ Vi pratar ofta över framtiden
  • ✗ Vi pratar ofta på framtiden

Those are wrong prepositions for “talk about” in this sense. Use prata om for “talk about” a subject.

Why is it framtiden (definite form) and not just framtid?

Framtid is an en-word (common gender):

  • indefinite singular: en framtid – a future
  • definite singular: framtiden – the future

In Swedish, when you talk about “the future” in a general sense, you almost always use the definite form:

  • Jag tänker mycket på framtiden. – I think a lot about the future.
  • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden. – We often talk about the future.

You can say framtid without the definite ending in some abstract phrases, like:

  • Det finns ingen framtid där. – There is no future there.

But in a sentence like this, where English has “the future”, Swedish normally uses framtiden.

Could I say om framtid instead of om framtiden here?

Not in this context. Om framtid (without the definite ending) sounds incomplete or unnatural here.

You would use:

  • om framtiden when you mean “about the future” in general.

Something like om framtid might appear inside compounds or fixed phrases (e.g. in titles, or very abstract discussions), but as a normal object phrase after prata om, om framtiden is the idiomatic form.

Why is it våra planer and not vår planer or våra plan?

There are three issues here: number, possessive form, and noun form.

  1. Possessive and number

    • vår = our for a singular en-word:
      • vår bil – our car
    • våra = our for plural nouns (both en- and ett-words):
      • våra bilar – our cars
      • våra hus – our houses

    Since planer is plural, you need våra, not vår:

    • våra planer – our plans

  2. Noun form (plan vs planer)
    The noun plan can be:

    • singular indefinite: en plan – a plan
    • plural indefinite: planer – plans
    • (There is also a form plan as plural for some meanings, but for “plans” in the sense of intentions, planer is standard.)

So:

  • våra planer = our plans (correct here)
  • ✗ vår planer = wrong agreement (singular possessive + plural noun)
  • våra plan is possible in some dialects/contexts, but våra planer is the normal, clear standard for “our plans” (intentions for the future).
Why is planer plural here? In English we can also say “our plan”.

In Swedish, it’s very natural to talk about “plans” in the plural when you mean several ideas, goals, or intentions for the future:

  • våra planer för framtiden – our plans for the future

You could say vår plan (our plan) if you mean one specific, unified plan, but:

  • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer … suggests several different plans or aspects: jobs, travel, family, etc.

So plural planer sounds more natural in a general sentence about “the future and our plans.”

Why do we say på kvällen and not i kvällen?

Swedish uses prepositions with times in fairly fixed ways, and they don’t always match English directly.

For parts of the day, you usually use på:

  • på morgonen – in the morning
  • på eftermiddagen – in the afternoon
  • på kvällen – in the evening
  • på natten – at night

I kvällen is wrong in standard Swedish in this sense. På kvällen is the idiomatic equivalent of “in the evening” when speaking in general terms.

Why is it på kvällen (singular definite) and not på kvällarna?

Both are correct, but they mean slightly different things:

  • på kvällen – in the evening in a general, typical sense

    • “in the evening (as a rule / typically)”

  • på kvällarna – in the evenings (plural), emphasising repeated evenings

    • “in the evenings / on evenings (regularly)”

So:

  • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer på kvällen.
    = We often talk about the future and our plans in the evening (that’s when we tend to do it).

  • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer på kvällarna.
    = We often talk about the future and our plans in the evenings (on multiple/most evenings).

The original sentence is more neutral and habitual; på kvällarna puts a bit more emphasis on repeated evenings.

Can I move på kvällen to the beginning: På kvällen pratar vi ofta om framtiden och våra planer?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct and very natural.

  • På kvällen pratar vi ofta om framtiden och våra planer.

What changes:

  1. Emphasis: starting with På kvällen highlights the time a bit more.

  2. Word order rule (V2): when you move på kvällen to the front, the finite verb pratar must still be in second position, so the subject vi moves after the verb:

    • På kvällen (fronted time phrase)
    • pratar (verb – still 2nd)
    • vi (subject)
    • ofta om framtiden och våra planer (rest)

Both versions are fine:

  • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer på kvällen.
  • På kvällen pratar vi ofta om framtiden och våra planer.
If I want to stress that this happens every evening, how could I change the time expression?

You have a few natural options:

  1. Use plural evenings:

    • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden och våra planer på kvällarna.
      = We often talk about the future and our plans in the evenings.

  2. Use varje (every):

    • Vi pratar om framtiden och våra planer varje kväll.
      = We talk about the future and our plans every evening.
      (Here you might drop ofta because varje kväll already implies frequency.)

  3. Stronger emphasis:

    • Nästan varje kväll pratar vi om framtiden och våra planer.
      = Almost every evening we talk about the future and our plans.
Is pratar present tense? How do Swedes usually talk about the future?

Yes, pratar is the present tense of prata.

In Swedish, the present tense is very often used for future events, especially when there is a time expression that makes the future clear:

  • Vi pratar om våra planer i morgon.
    = We’ll talk about our plans tomorrow.

In your sentence:

  • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden …
    grammatically is present (we talk), but because you add om framtiden, the context is clearly about something future-related.

If you want to be explicit about future tense, you can also use ska:

  • Vi ska prata om framtiden och våra planer i kväll.
    = We are going to talk about the future and our plans tonight.
What is the difference between pratar and talar?

Both come from verbs meaning “to speak / talk”:

  • prata → pratar
  • tala → talar

Differences:

  • Prata is more informal and common in everyday speech.

    • Vi pratar ofta om framtiden.

  • Tala is slightly more formal or careful. You see it in:

    • formal contexts: tala inför publik – speak in public
    • set phrases: tala om also exists but is less common than prata om in casual speech.

In your sentence, Vi pratar ofta om framtiden … is the most natural everyday choice.
Vi talar ofta om framtiden … is also correct, just a bit more formal.

How do you pronounce framtiden and kvällen?

Approximate standard Swedish pronunciation (IPA):

  • framtiden – /ˈframˌtiːdɛn/

    • stress on fram and secondary stress on ti
    • a like a in father (but shorter)
    • i long, like ee in see

  • kvällen – /ˈkvɛlːɛn/

    • stress on kväl
    • ä like e in bed
    • ll is a long l sound
    • final -en is /ɛn/, short and unstressed

Rough English-like approximations:

  • framtiden ≈ “FRAM-tee-den”
  • kvällen ≈ “KVEL-len”