Learn Hardcore Swedish: Vi vill bo nära centrum. - We want to live near the city center.

In Swedish, when a modal verb is followed by another verb, you normally do not use att (the word that often corresponds to to before verbs).

vill = want (modal verb)
bo = live (infinitive form)

So you get:

Vi vill bo = We want to live
not Vi vill att bo (that would be wrong here).

Other examples follow the same pattern:

Jag kan simma. – I can swim.
Hon måste gå. – She must go.

What exactly does vill mean here? Is it like “want” or “would like”?

Vill is the present tense of vilja (“to want”).

Vi vill bo… literally = We want to live…

Politeness is usually handled in other ways (tone of voice, extra phrases), not by changing the verb itself. So vill can cover both:

neutral want: We want to live near the center.
polite would like: We would like to live near the center.

If you want to make it sound softer, you might add something like:

Vi skulle vilja bo nära centrum. – We would like to live near the center.

Why is it Vi vill bo… and not something like Vill vi bo… or Vi bo vill…?

Swedish main clauses follow the V2 rule: the finite verb (here vill) must be in second position in the sentence.

In this sentence:

Vi – subject (1st position)
vill – finite verb (2nd position)
bo – infinitive verb
nära centrum – adverbial phrase (where?)

So Vi vill bo nära centrum. is normal statement word order.

If you turn it into a yes/no question, the verb comes first:

Vill vi bo nära centrum? – Do we want to live near the center?

But Vi bo vill nära centrum is simply ungrammatical.

Why is bo in this form? Does Swedish have verb endings for “we live”?

Bo is the infinitive form, used after modal verbs like vill.

Swedish verbs (in modern standard Swedish) do not change for person or number:

jag bor – I live
du bor – you live
vi bor – we live
de bor – they live

The ending stays the same. So after vill, you must use the infinitive bo, not bor:

Vi vill bo nära centrum. – We want to live near the center.
Vi bor nära centrum. – We live near the center.

What’s the difference between bo and leva? Both seem to mean “to live”.

Both translate to “live”, but they’re used differently:

bo = live in the sense of reside, have your home somewhere
- Vi vill bo nära centrum. – We want to live (reside) near the center.
- Var bor du? – Where do you live?
leva = live in the sense of be alive, live one’s life
- Hon lever fortfarande. – She is still alive.
- Jag vill leva ett lugnt liv. – I want to live a calm life.

So in this sentence, only bo is correct.

Is nära an adjective, an adverb, or a preposition here?

In Vi vill bo nära centrum, nära acts as a preposition meaning “near / close to”.

A few points:

It doesn’t change for gender or number:
- nära centrum – near the center
- nära skolan – near the school
- nära mina vänner – near my friends
It can also be an adverb or adjective in other contexts, but here it clearly governs a noun (centrum) like a preposition.

Why is it nära centrum and not nära till centrum?

Standard Swedish usually uses nära directly with a noun:

nära centrum – near the center
nära skolan – near the school

You sometimes see nära till in expressions like:

Det är nära till skolan. – It’s close to the school.

Here nära is used more like an adverb, and till is the preposition.

In your sentence, you want the straightforward “live near X”, so:

bo nära centrum (natural)
bo nära till centrum (not standard here; sounds odd or dialectal)

Why is it centrum and not centrumet? What’s the difference?

Centrum is a neuter noun:

ett centrum – a center
centrumet – the center

In this sentence, nära centrum usually means “near the city center / town center” in a general, typical sense, not focusing on a specific, sharply defined “the center” as an object.

Both are possible:

Vi vill bo nära centrum.
– We want to live near (the) city center (generally understood).
Vi vill bo nära centrumet.
– We want to live near the (specific) center (more definite, e.g. the center of a particular town just mentioned).

In practice, with centrum for “city center”, the bare form centrum is very common even when English would use “the center”.

What exactly does centrum mean here? Is it like “city center” or “downtown”?

In this context, centrum usually refers to the central part of a town or city, where you have shops, services, etc.

Typical translations:

city center (BrE)
town center (for smaller places)
downtown (AmE)

So bo nära centrum ≈ live close to downtown / the city center.

Does vi change how the verb is formed? Is there a special “we” form like in some languages?

No. Modern Swedish verbs do not change according to person or number.

vi vill – we want
jag vill – I want
de vill – they want

The verb vill is the same form for all subjects in the present tense. The same applies to most Swedish verbs.

How do you pronounce Vi vill bo nära centrum?

Approximate pronunciation (in IPA):

Vi – /viː/ (like “vee”)
vill – /vɪl/ (short i, like in English “will”)
bo – /buː/ (like “boo” with a long vowel)
nära – /ˈnɛːra/ (stress on nä, ä like in “bed” but longer)
centrum – /ˈsɛntrʉm/ (stress on cen, u is a rounded sound, between “u” in “put” and French “u”)

Putting it together with natural stress:

Vi vill bo – main stress on vill
nära centrum – secondary stress on när and cen

So roughly: “vee vill boo NÄÄ-ra CEN-trum”.