Jag vill att du påminner mig om mötet imorgon.

I want you to remind me about the meeting tomorrow.

Breakdown of Jag vill att du påminner mig om mötet imorgon.

• jag: I
• du: you
• vilja: to want
• imorgon: tomorrow

Questions & Answers about Jag vill att du påminner mig om mötet imorgon.

Why do we need att after vill in Jag vill att du påminner mig …? In English we just say I want you to remind me without a word like that.

In Swedish, when you say that you want someone to do something, you normally use the pattern:

Jag vill att + [clause with a subject and a verb]

So:

• Jag vill att du påminner mig.
  literally: I want that you remind me.

Here att is a conjunction (like English that) that introduces a whole clause (du påminner mig om mötet imorgon). You cannot leave it out:

• ✔ Jag vill att du påminner mig …
• ✘ Jag vill du påminner mig … (ungrammatical)

If you don’t want a full clause, but just an infinitive, you do something else:

• Jag vill påminna dig. – I want to remind you.

Here, there is no separate subject in the second part, so there is no att-clause.

Why is it påminner (present tense) and not something like ska påminna (will remind), when the English is “remind” / “will remind”?