Breakdown of Hon dammsuger alltid snabbt, men barnen hjälper bara ibland till med städningen.
Questions & Answers about Hon dammsuger alltid snabbt, men barnen hjälper bara ibland till med städningen.
Dammsuger is the present tense of the verb dammsuga, which means “to vacuum-clean” / “to hoover.”
- Infinitive: dammsuga (to vacuum)
- Present tense: hon dammsuger (she vacuums / she is vacuuming)
- Past tense: hon dammsög (she vacuumed)
- Supine (used with har): hon har dammsugit (she has vacuumed)
The verb is a compound:
- damm = dust
- suga = to suck
So it literally means “dust-suck,” just like “vacuum-clean” in English is also a kind of compound idea.
Swedish main clauses normally follow the V2 rule: the finite verb should be in second position in the sentence.
In Hon dammsuger alltid snabbt:
- Hon = first element (subject)
- dammsuger = finite verb (must come second)
- alltid snabbt = adverbs and other information come after the verb
Putting alltid before the verb, as in Hon alltid dammsuger snabbt, breaks the V2 rule, so it is incorrect in normal Swedish word order.
You could move something else to the front, but the verb still stays second, e.g.:
- Ibland dammsuger hon snabbt. (Sometimes she vacuums quickly.) Here: Ibland (1st), dammsuger (2nd), hon (3rd).
Both alltid snabbt and snabbt alltid are technically possible, but they do not feel equally natural.
In neutral Swedish, the typical order of adverbs is:
- Frequency/time-related adverbs (alltid, ofta, ibland, sällan)
- Manner adverbs (snabbt, noggrant, försiktigt)
So:
- Hon dammsuger alltid snabbt.
= She always vacuums quickly. (Frequency first, then manner — neutral, natural.)
Hon dammsuger snabbt alltid would sound odd or marked, and most native speakers would avoid it. If you change the order, it tends to sound like you are putting special emphasis on snabbt, and even then it’s not very idiomatic.
Hjälpa till is a particle verb in Swedish. It functions like an English phrasal verb:
- hjälpa = to help
- hjälpa till = to help out, to pitch in
In the sentence:
- barnen hjälper bara ibland till med städningen
= the children only sometimes help out with the cleaning.
Here till is not a separate preposition with its own meaning; it is part of the verb hjälpa till. You normally:
- keep till with hjälpa, but it can come after adverbs, as in hjälper bara ibland till.
Without till, hjälpa is still correct Swedish, but it is a bit more neutral and direct:
Barnen hjälper ibland med städningen.
= The children sometimes help with the cleaning. (OK, but slightly different nuance.)Barnen hjälper ibland till med städningen.
= The children sometimes help out with the cleaning. (More like “pitch in”.)
Both orders are grammatically possible, but they have different emphasis.
barnen hjälper bara ibland till
= They only help out sometimes (and not more often).
Here, bara clearly limits the frequency: the helping happens only at some times, not regularly.barnen hjälper ibland bara till med städningen
This could be understood more like: Sometimes they *only help with the cleaning (not with other tasks).
Now, *bara is felt to limit what they help with, rather than how often.
In your sentence, the intended meaning is that they are infrequent helpers, so bara ibland is the most natural and clear order.
With hjälpa till, you have a few natural options:
- barnen hjälper bara ibland till med städningen
- barnen hjälper ibland bara till med städningen (slightly different meaning/emphasis)
- barnen hjälper ibland till med städningen (without bara)
You cannot move till far away from hjälper in a strange place, like:
- ✗ barnen hjälper till bara ibland med städningen (possible but awkward; many would still accept it, but it sounds less natural)
- ✗ barnen bara hjälper ibland till med städningen (breaks the normal adverb–verb order)
The safest and most idiomatic pattern is:
- [subject] + [verb] + (focusing adverb like bara) + (time/frequency adverb like ibland) + till + ...
The verb hjälpa till is typically used with med + noun/gerund:
- hjälpa till med städningen = to help out with the cleaning
- hjälpa till med maten = to help out with the food / cooking
- hjälpa till med läxorna = to help out with the homework
If you drop med, the sentence becomes wrong in standard Swedish:
- ✗ hjälper till städningen (incorrect)
However, with plain hjälpa (without till), you can say:
- hjälpa någon med något
e.g. Barnen hjälper henne med städningen.
(The children help her with the cleaning.)
So:
- hjälpa till med X = help out with X
- hjälpa (någon) med X = help (someone) with X
Städningen is the definite form of städning:
- städning = cleaning (indefinite)
- städningen = the cleaning (definite)
In Swedish, the definite is often used when talking about a known, regular activity in the household, like “the cleaning” or “the washing up,” especially when it is clear from context what cleaning we mean (housework in general):
- Barnen hjälper till med städningen.
= The children help out with the cleaning (the household cleaning we all know about).
Using städning without the article:
- hjälper till med städning
is possible, but sounds more general/abstract, like “with cleaning (as an activity in general).” In this specific everyday context, städningen is more natural.
Barnen is the definite plural of barn.
- ett barn = a child (singular, indefinite, neuter)
- barnet = the child (singular, definite)
- flera barn = several children (plural, indefinite)
- barnen = the children (plural, definite)
So barnen means “the children.”
Note that barn is special: the plural indefinite form is the same as the singular indefinite form (both are barn). You only see that it’s plural when you use the definite form barnen or from context.
In Swedish, it is standard to use a comma before the coordinating conjunction men when it joins two independent clauses:
- Hon dammsuger alltid snabbt, men barnen hjälper bara ibland till med städningen.
Both parts can stand alone as full sentences:
- Hon dammsuger alltid snabbt.
- Barnen hjälper bara ibland till med städningen.
Because of that, a comma before men is expected in normal written Swedish, similar to English:
- “She always vacuums quickly, but the children only sometimes help with the cleaning.”
Yes. Swedish present tense often describes habits or repeated actions, just like the present simple in English:
- Hon dammsuger alltid snabbt
= She always vacuums quickly. (Habitual, not necessarily right now.) - barnen hjälper bara ibland till med städningen
= The children only sometimes help out with the cleaning. (Habitual/typical behaviour.)
So the Swedish present here talks about what usually happens, not about one specific event.
Yes, you could say:
- Hon brukar dammsuga snabbt.
Brukar means “usually / tends to” and adds an explicit idea of habit or tendency. The nuance:
Hon dammsuger alltid snabbt.
= She always vacuums quickly. (Very strong: every time.)Hon brukar dammsuga snabbt.
= She usually vacuums quickly. (Most of the time, but not necessarily always.)
So alltid (always) is stronger and more absolute than brukar (usually).
No, not in normal Swedish. Swedish is not a “null subject” language like Spanish or Italian. You must always include the subject pronoun in standard sentences:
- Hon dammsuger alltid snabbt. (correct)
- ✗ Dammsuger alltid snabbt. (sounds like a short note, heading, or command; not a normal full sentence)
You might see the subject dropped in informal notes, recipes, diaries, etc., but in proper sentences you keep the subject pronoun.