De vill hyra en större lägenhet nära universitetet.

They want to rent a bigger apartment near the university.

Breakdown of De vill hyra en större lägenhet nära universitetet.

• stor: big
• en: a
• vilja: to want
• nära: near
• lägenheten: the apartment
• de: they
• universitetet: the university
• hyra: to rent

Questions & Answers about De vill hyra en större lägenhet nära universitetet.

Why is it De and not dem at the beginning of the sentence?

Swedish distinguishes between subject and object forms of they, just like English does (they vs. them):

• de = subject form (they)
• dem = object form (them)

In this sentence, De is the subject (the ones who want to rent), so the subject form de is correct.

Also, De is capitalized only because it’s the first word of the sentence, not because the pronoun itself is normally capitalized.

How is de actually pronounced here?

In most modern spoken Swedish, de is pronounced /dɔm/, written informally as dom.

So while the standard written form is:

• De vill hyra … (written)

it’s almost always pronounced:

• Dom vill hyra … (spoken)

In more careful or formal speech, a few people may pronounce it /deː/, but /dɔm/ is by far the most common.

Can I write Dom vill hyra… instead of De vill hyra…?

• In informal writing (texts, chats, some social media), Dom vill hyra… is common and accepted.
• In standard / formal writing (essays, official texts, exams, most books), you should use De vill hyra….

So: say dom, but usually write de in anything formal or semi-formal.

Why do we say vill hyra and not just hyr?

• vill hyra = want to rent (expresses a wish or intention)
• hyr (present tense of hyra) = rent / are renting

Compare:

• De hyr en lägenhet. – They rent / are renting an apartment (a fact right now).
• De vill hyra en större lägenhet. – They want to rent a larger apartment (a desire for the future).

vill is a modal verb (like want to, will, shall in English) and it’s followed by the infinitive hyra.

Why is there no att before hyra? In English we say “want to rent”.

In Swedish, some verbs normally take an infinitive without att. Important ones include:

• vill – want (to)
• kan – can
• ska – shall / will / going to
• måste – must / have to

So you say:

• De vill hyra … (not vill att hyra)
• De kan hyra …
• De ska hyra …

With many other verbs, you do use att:

• De försöker att hyra … – They are trying to rent …
• De planerar att hyra … – They plan to rent …

So: vill + infinitive (no att) is the normal pattern.

Why is it en större lägenhet and not större en lägenhet?

In Swedish, the normal order is:

article + adjective + noun

So:

• en större lägenhet – a larger apartment
• en fin lägenhet – a nice apartment
• ett stort hus – a big house
• ett modernt universitet – a modern university

You don’t put the adjective before the article. So större en lägenhet is incorrect.

What is the form större? Is that just “big”?

Större is the comparative form of the adjective stor (big):

• stor – big
• större – bigger / larger
• störst – biggest / largest

So en större lägenhet = a bigger / larger apartment (compared to some other one they have in mind).

Note that stor → större is slightly irregular (a vowel change, not just adding -are).

Why is it en lägenhet and not ett lägenhet?

Swedish nouns have two grammatical genders:

• en-words (common gender)
• ett-words (neuter)

You have to learn the gender with each noun. For this word:

• en lägenhet – an apartment (common gender)

So you say:

• en lägenhet
• lägenheten – the apartment
• lägenheter – apartments
• lägenheterna – the apartments

There’s no reliable rule that predicts the gender of lägenhet; it’s just something you memorize as en-lägenhet.

Why is lägenhet indefinite, but universitetet is definite?

Swedish marks definiteness differently from English.

• en lägenhet – a(n) apartment (indefinite)
  → They are talking about some larger apartment, not a specific one already known.
• universitetet – the university (definite)
  → This refers to a specific university both speaker and listener know (for example, the local university).

So:

• They want to rent a larger apartment near the university.

English uses the in the same place as Swedish uses the definite ending -et here: universitetet.

How is the definite form universitetet formed?

The basic word is ett universitet (a university).

For ett-words ending in a consonant, the definite singular is usually formed by adding -et:

• ett universitet → universitetet – the university
• ett hus → huset – the house
• ett språk → språket – the language

So:

• nära universitetet = near the university.

Why is it nära universitetet and not nära till universitetet?

nära already expresses “near / close to” and normally does not need till:

• nära universitetet – near the university
• nära stan – near the town/city
• nära skolan – near the school

Using nära till is uncommon and often sounds influenced by other languages or learner-Swedish in these locative phrases.

You do see nära till in some fixed or more abstract expressions, but for physical location like this, just nära + place is standard.

Could I move nära universitetet to another position in the sentence?

Yes, Swedish word order is flexible for adverbials like nära universitetet, though some positions sound more natural:

• De vill hyra en större lägenhet nära universitetet. – Neutral, most natural.
• De vill nära universitetet hyra en större lägenhet. – Grammatically possible but sounds odd/marked.
• Nära universitetet vill de hyra en större lägenhet. – Emphasizes the location (“Near the university is where they want to rent…”).

For everyday, neutral speech/writing, keep nära universitetet at the end, as in the original sentence.

Why does vill look the same for “they want” and “I want”? Shouldn’t it change?

Modern Swedish verbs do not change with the subject (no person/number endings). So:

• Jag vill – I want
• Du vill – You want
• Han / Hon / Den / Det vill – He / She / It wants
• Vi vill – We want
• Ni vill – You (plural) want
• De vill – They want

The verb vill stays the same for all persons. This is much simpler than English (I want / he wants), but can feel unusual to native English speakers at first.