Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material före nästa lektion.

I promise to send her all the material before the next lesson.

Breakdown of Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material före nästa lektion.

• jag: I
• att: to
• skicka: to send
• nästa: next
• henne: her
• lektionen: the lesson
• lova: to promise
• allt: all
• materialet: the material
• före: before

Questions & Answers about Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material före nästa lektion.

Why is it "Jag lovar att skicka" and not "Jag lovar skickar"?

In Swedish, when one verb depends on another (like promise to do, want to do), the second verb is normally in the infinitive with "att":

• Jag lovar att skicka = I promise to send
• Jag vill att läsa – wrong
  Jag vill läsa – right = I want to read

So the pattern is:

[conjugated verb] + att + [infinitive]
lovar + att + skicka

"skickar" is present tense (send / am sending), so "Jag lovar skickar" would be ungrammatical. You need the infinitive skicka after att.

Can you drop "att" and say "Jag lovar skicka henne allt material"?

In spoken, fairly informal Swedish, people sometimes drop att before an infinitive:

• Jag ska (att) ringa → people say Jag ska ringa
• Jag måste (att) gå → people say Jag måste gå

With lovar, you can sometimes hear "Jag lovar skicka det", but it is:

• more informal
• less standard / less typical in writing

For clear, correct Swedish (especially in writing or as a learner), use:

Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material.

Why is it "henne" and not "hon" or "hennes"?

Swedish has different forms of pronouns, like English she / her / hers.

For hon (she), the forms are:

• hon – subject (she)
  • Hon kommer. = She is coming.
• henne – object (her)
  • Jag ser henne. = I see her.
• hennes – possessive (her / hers)
  • Hennes bok = her book

In your sentence:

Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material.
I promise to send her all the material.

Here, henne is the indirect object (to her), so you must use the object form:

• not hon (subject)
• not hennes (possessive)

Why is there no "till" before "henne"? In English we’d say “send to her”.

Swedish can express the indirect object with or without a preposition, similar to English:

• English: send her the material / send the material to her
• Swedish:
  skicka henne materialet
  skicka materialet till henne

So both are possible:

• Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material.
• Jag lovar att skicka allt material till henne.

They are both correct and common. The version without "till" treats henne as an indirect object directly after the verb, much like English “send her the material”.

Why is the order "skicka henne allt material" and not "skicka allt material henne"?

The natural order in Swedish when you have two objects is usually:

Verb + indirect object (person) + direct object (thing)

So:

• skicka henne allt material
  • henne = indirect object (to her)
  • allt material = direct object (what?)

Compare:

• Ge mig boken. = Give me the book.
• Visa oss bilderna. = Show us the pictures.

You normally do not say "skicka allt material henne". If you want to put the thing first, you almost always introduce the person with "till":

skicka allt material till henne

What is the difference between "allt material" and "allt materialet"?

• allt material = all (the) material, all material in general, or all of whatever material is in question
• allt materialet = all of the specific, already defined material

In practice:

• Jag ska skicka henne allt material.
  → All the material we’re talking about, but the noun is in the indefinite form (material).
• Jag ska skicka henne allt materialet.
  → Sounds like all of that specific material (with materialet = the material).

Because material is a mass/uncountable noun, "allt material" is the most natural and neutral here.
"allt materialet" is grammatically possible but less common and a bit heavier; it strongly implies a clearly defined, limited set of material that both speakers know about.

Why is it "före nästa lektion" and not "innan nästa lektion"? What’s the difference between "före" and "innan"?

Basic rule:

• före – preposition, used before a noun phrase
• innan – conjunction/adverb, used before a clause (a full sentence) or sometimes an infinitive.

Examples:

• före lektionen = before the lesson (noun)
• innan lektionen – also used in speech, but more typical is:
• innan lektionen börjar = before the lesson starts (clause)
• innan jag går hem = before I go home

In your sentence, "nästa lektion" is a noun phrase, so "före nästa lektion" is the most standard choice.

Note: Many speakers do say "innan nästa lektion", and it’s widely accepted in modern Swedish, but if you want to follow the classic distinction:

• före + noun: före nästa lektion
• innan + sentence: innan nästa lektion börjar

Why is it "nästa lektion" and not "den nästa lektionen"?

With words like:

• nästa (next)
• förra (last/previous)
• varje (every)
• denna / denna här (this)

you usually don’t add an article and definite ending at the same time.

So:

• nästa lektion = the next lesson
  (no den, no lektionen)
• förra veckan = last week
• varje dag = every day

"den nästa lektionen" sounds wrong/unnatural. You choose either:

• indefinite noun after these words: nästa lektion
• or a normal definite form with article: den här lektionen, den nya lektionen

What tense is "lovar", and how does it express the future?

lovar is present tense of the verb lova (to promise).

Swedish often uses present tense to talk about the future, especially when the future is clearly implied by context:

• Jag kommer imorgon. = I’m coming tomorrow.
• Vi ses nästa vecka. = We’ll see each other next week.

In your sentence:

Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material före nästa lektion.

The actual sending will happen in the future, but the act of promising is in the present (I hereby promise). That’s why lovar is present tense, and skicka is an infinitive describing what you promise to do.

Could you move "före nästa lektion" earlier in the sentence?

Yes. Swedish word order is fairly flexible with adverbials like time expressions. All of these are possible:

1. Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material före nästa lektion.
2. Före nästa lektion lovar jag att skicka henne allt material.

Version 1 (time at the end) is the most neutral and common.
Version 2 puts extra emphasis on "före nästa lektion" (before the next lesson in particular).

Is there another natural way to phrase the whole sentence?

Yes, some very natural variants include:

• Jag lovar att skicka allt material till henne före nästa lektion.
  • Uses till henne instead of placing henne before the object.
• Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material innan nästa lektion.
  • Uses innan instead of före; common in speech.
• Jag lovar att skicka henne allt material innan nästa lektion börjar.
  • More explicit: before the next lesson starts.

Your original sentence is already idiomatic and correct; these are just stylistic alternatives.