Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan te.

I do not drink coffee in the evening but (rather) tea.

Breakdown of Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan te.

• jag: I
• dricka: to drink
• kaffet: the coffee
• inte: not
• kvällen: the evening
• på: in
• teet: the tea
• utan: but rather

Questions & Answers about Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan te.

Why is inte placed after dricker and not before it, like in English (I not drink coffee)?

In main clauses, Swedish usually puts the negation inte right after the finite verb (the verb that is conjugated for tense), not before it.

• Jag dricker inte kaffe …
  Literally: I drink not coffee …

Compare:

• English: I do *not drink coffee in the evening but tea.*
• Swedish: Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan te.

This word order (verb in second position, then inte) is very typical Swedish and should be learned as a pattern:

• Jag gillar inte kaffe. – I don’t like coffee.
• Hon kommer inte imorgon. – She isn’t coming tomorrow.

Putting inte before dricker (Jag inte dricker kaffe …) is ungrammatical in Swedish.

What exactly does utan mean here, and how is it different from men?

Both utan and men can be translated as but, but they’re used in different situations:

• utan is used after a negation (like inte) when you correct or replace something with an alternative:

  • Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan te.
    I don’t drink coffee in the evening but (instead) tea.
  • Det är inte min bok utan hennes.
    It’s not my book but hers.

• men is a more general but, not necessarily after a negation:

  • Jag gillar kaffe men jag dricker det inte på kvällen.
    I like coffee but I don’t drink it in the evening.
  • Det är min bok, men du får låna den.
    It’s my book, but you may borrow it.

If you have inte X, but Y instead, Swedish strongly prefers inte … utan … rather than inte … men ….

Why is it på kvällen (on the evening) in Swedish, when in English we say in the evening?

Swedish uses the preposition på with many time expressions where English uses in, on, or at.

På kvällen literally means on the evening, but it is the normal way to say in the evening.

More examples:

• på morgonen – in the morning
• på dagen – in/at the daytime
• på natten – at night
• på fredagar – on Fridays

So you should learn på kvällen as a fixed phrase for in the evening. Using another preposition (like i kvällen) would be incorrect in this meaning.

Why is it kvällen (the evening, definite form) and not just kväll?

In Swedish, for habitual or generic time expressions (talking about a recurring time of day), the definite form is very common:

• på kvällen – in the evening / in the evenings
• på morgonen – in the morning / in the mornings

Even though English uses the indefinite form (in the evening without “the” sometimes feeling generic), Swedish grammar prefers the definite noun here.

So:

• Jag dricker kaffe på morgonen.
  I drink coffee in the morning (as a habit).

Using bare kväll (på kväll) is wrong in this context.

What’s the difference between på kvällen and på kvällarna?

Both can be translated as in the evening / in the evenings, but there is a nuance:

• på kvällen (singular, definite): often used to talk about a typical time of day, without strongly emphasizing repetition.

  • Jag tittar ofta på tv på kvällen.
    I often watch TV in the evening.

• på kvällarna (plural, definite): explicitly highlights that this is something that happens on many evenings, more clearly habitual.

  • Jag jobbar på kvällarna.
    I work in the evenings (regularly).

In your sentence, på kvällen is perfectly natural for a general habit. Using på kvällarna would emphasize the every evening / most evenings idea a bit more.

Why is there no article before kaffe and te? Why not ett kaffe or ett te?

Kaffe and te in this sentence are used as mass nouns, referring to the substances in general, not to specific portions or cups. Swedish, like English, usually doesn’t use an article with mass nouns in this kind of general statement:

• Jag dricker kaffe. – I drink coffee.
• Hon dricker te. – She drinks tea.

However, Swedish can use an article when you mean a serving:

• en kaffe (informal, often said in cafés) – a coffee (a cup of coffee)
• ett te – a tea (one tea, one portion)

In your sentence, you’re talking about coffee and tea as drinks in general, so no article is used:

• Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan te.
  I don’t drink coffee in the evening but tea.

Could I say Jag dricker te i stället för kaffe på kvällen instead? Does it mean the same thing?

Yes, Jag dricker te i stället för kaffe på kvällen is natural Swedish and has almost the same meaning:

• Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan te.
  Focus: I don’t drink coffee in the evening, but (instead) tea.
• Jag dricker te i stället för kaffe på kvällen.
  Focus: I drink tea instead of coffee in the evening.

Both express that you choose tea, not coffee, in the evening.

Grammatically:

• inte … utan … is a negative + correction structure.
• i stället för literally means instead of and takes what you’re replacing (kaffe) as its object.

Can I move på kvällen to the front, like På kvällen dricker jag inte kaffe utan te? Is that still correct?

Yes, that sentence is fully correct and natural. Swedish allows you to move a time expression to the beginning for emphasis or style:

• Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan te.
• På kvällen dricker jag inte kaffe utan te.

Both are grammatical. The difference is emphasis:

• Starting with På kvällen highlights the time (in the evening) as the topic.
• Starting with Jag is more neutral and subject-focused.

Notice that in both versions, dricker still comes in second position in the clause (after the first element), which follows the Swedish V2 (verb-second) rule:

• På kvällen (1st element) dricker (2nd) jag inte kaffe utan te.

What’s the difference between inte kaffe and inget kaffe in a sentence like this?

Both can appear, but they work slightly differently:

• inte kaffe – not coffee (negating the noun phrase)

  • Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan te.
    I don’t drink coffee in the evening but tea (instead).

• inget kaffe – no coffee / no any coffee

  • Jag dricker inget kaffe på kvällen, bara te.
    I drink no coffee in the evening, only tea.

inte kaffe … utan te forms a clear contrast pair (not coffee but tea).
inget kaffe … bara te sounds more like a general statement “there is no coffee involved at all in the evening, only tea.” Both are correct, but the inte … utan … construction is the specifically contrastive “not X, but Y instead” pattern.

Could I say Jag dricker kaffe inte på kvällen utan på morgonen? Where does inte go if I want to negate the time, not the coffee?

Yes, you can move inte so that it clearly negates the time expression:

• Jag dricker kaffe, men inte på kvällen utan på morgonen.
  I drink coffee, but not in the evening but (rather) in the morning.

Here, inte comes before the phrase you want to negate (på kvällen). The structure is:

• inte [time] utan [other time]

If you write:

• Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen utan på morgonen.

this is ambiguous or tends to be understood as “I don’t drink coffee in the evening, but I do in the morning.” To be very clear that you are negating the time itself, many speakers will add a pause or a men:

• Jag dricker kaffe, men inte på kvällen, utan på morgonen.

Can I drop the på and say Jag dricker inte kaffe kvällen?

No, that would be ungrammatical. You need på in this type of time expression:

• på kvällen – correct
• kvällen on its own – not used here

Standard patterns you should learn:

• på morgonen, på dagen, på kvällen, på natten
• på måndag, på fredagar, etc.

So the correct forms are:

• Jag dricker inte kaffe på kvällen.
• Jag dricker kaffe på morgonen.

Leaving out the på in these cases does not work in idiomatic Swedish.