Breakdown of Nu sparar hon ungefär tusen kronor i månaden på banken, eftersom hon nyligen öppnade ett nytt konto.
Questions & Answers about Nu sparar hon ungefär tusen kronor i månaden på banken, eftersom hon nyligen öppnade ett nytt konto.
Swedish only has one present tense form, and it covers both English simple present and present continuous.
So hon sparar can mean:
- she saves (habitually)
- she is saving (around now / these days)
The context (i månaden – per month) clearly shows it’s a regular, repeated action, so sparar works perfectly.
Both are grammatically correct:
- Nu sparar hon ungefär tusen kronor…
- Hon sparar nu ungefär tusen kronor…
Swedish has the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb (here sparar) must be in second position.
If you start with nu (an adverbial), the verb must come next:
- Nu (1st position)
- sparar (2nd position: verb)
- hon (3rd position: subject)
Putting nu first adds emphasis to the change in situation: Now (as opposed to before), she saves…
These verbs mean different things:
- spara = to save (usually money, time, resources), often in the sense of not spending or putting aside
- rädda = to save in the sense of rescue (save a person, an animal, a situation)
- behålla = to keep something you already have
Since the sentence is about regularly putting money aside at the bank, spara is the natural verb.
Ungefär means about / approximately. It softens the number:
- tusen kronor = exactly one thousand kronor
- ungefär tusen kronor = about a thousand kronor
Common alternatives:
- cirka tusen kronor – a bit more formal/neutral, also seen as ca. in writing
- runt tusen kronor – more colloquial (around a thousand kronor)
All would be understood; ungefär is a very standard choice.
In Swedish, cardinal numbers (tusen, hundra, tio, etc.) are normally used without an article before a noun:
- tusen kronor = one thousand kronor
- not en tusen kronor
About the noun:
- en krona = one krona (singular)
- kronor = kronor (indefinite plural)
- kronorna = the kronor (definite plural)
So tusen kronor is simply one thousand kronor in the indefinite plural.
i månaden literally means in the month, but idiomatically it means per month / a month.
Rough equivalents:
- tusen kronor i månaden = a thousand kronor per month
- tusen kronor per månad – same meaning, slightly more formal / written
- tusen kronor varje månad = a thousand kronor every month (focus more on repetition)
You may also see tusen kronor om månaden, which is very similar to i månaden.
Swedish prepositions with institutions are a bit idiomatic:
- på banken – literally on/at the bank, used when talking about the bank as a place or institution where you keep money
- Han har sina pengar på banken. – He keeps his money in the bank.
- i banken – literally in the bank (building), would suggest physically inside the bank; often sounds odd for accounts/savings
- hos banken – with the bank / at that bank as a provider
- Hon har ett lån hos banken. – She has a loan with the bank.
For saving money in an account, på banken is the standard choice.
In Swedish, a comma before a subordinate clause with eftersom is optional here.
- Nu sparar hon … på banken eftersom hon nyligen öppnade… – no comma: perfectly normal
- Nu sparar hon … på banken, eftersom hon nyligen öppnade… – comma: also acceptable, and can make the pause and causal link more explicit
Modern Swedish often omits this comma in shorter, simple sentences, but including it is not wrong.
These conjunctions have slightly different typical uses:
- eftersom = because / since, neutral causal explanation
- därför att = also because, often more emphatic or explanatory
- för att = usually in order to / so that, used for purpose, not cause
In this sentence, we are giving the reason why she now saves money at the bank: because she recently opened a new account. That is exactly what eftersom expresses.
In Swedish subordinate clauses (introduced by eftersom, att, om, etc.), the usual order is:
- Subjunction – Subject – (Adverb) – Verb – …
So:
- eftersom (subjunction)
- hon (subject)
- nyligen (adverb)
- öppnade (verb)
- ett nytt konto (object + adjective)
You cannot say eftersom nyligen hon öppnade… – the subject must come immediately after eftersom.
You could also put nyligen later:
- eftersom hon öppnade ett nytt konto nyligen
Both are grammatical; the version in the sentence is slightly more compact and common.
Both tenses are possible, but they have slightly different feels:
- hon nyligen öppnade ett nytt konto – simple past; the action is seen as a completed event in the (recent) past
- hon nyligen har öppnat ett nytt konto – present perfect; focuses a bit more on the result now
In Swedish, the simple past (öppnade) is very commonly used with time adverbs like nyligen, igår, förra veckan, even where English might prefer has opened. So nyligen öppnade sounds very natural.
Swedish nouns belong to two genders:
- en-words (common gender) – take en and adjectives in - form (en ny bil)
- ett-words (neuter) – take ett and adjectives in -tt form in singular (ett nytt hus)
konto is a neuter noun, so:
- ett konto – an account
- ett nytt konto – a new account
The adjective ny takes the neuter form nytt before an ett-word in the singular:
- ett nytt konto
- det nya kontot (definite: the new account)
Swedish is not a pro-drop language: you normally must include the subject pronoun.
So:
- Nu sparar hon …, eftersom hon nyligen öppnade… – correct
- Nu sparar hon …, eftersom nyligen öppnade ett nytt konto – incorrect (missing subject in the subordinate clause)
Each finite verb generally needs an expressed subject, even if it is the same person as in the previous clause.
The verb spara very often implies money by default, especially together with amounts and banks:
- Hon sparar på banken. – She saves (money) at the bank.
- Hon sparar tusen kronor i månaden. – She saves a thousand kronor a month.
You can say Hon sparar pengar på banken, but when you already mention an amount (tusen kronor), adding pengar would be redundant. The meaning is completely clear without it.