Learn Hardcore Swedish: Hon vill söka sommarjobb i centrum. - She wants to apply for a summer job in the city center.

Hon vill söka sommarjobb can mean:
- She wants to apply for (a) summer job(s) in general.
- She wants to look for summer work (not one specific job).

If you say ett sommarjobb, you focus more on one single job:

Hon vill söka ett sommarjobb – She wants to apply for a (particular) summer job.

So both are grammatically correct; the version without the article is more general and very idiomatic in Swedish.

What kind of word is sommarjobb and how is it formed?

Sommarjobb is a compound noun:

sommar = summer
jobb = job, work

Together: sommarjobb = summer job / summer work.

It is a neuter noun:

Indefinite singular: ett sommarjobb
Definite singular: sommarjobbet
Indefinite plural: sommarjobb
Definite plural: sommarjobben

Why is it vill söka and not vill att söka?

Vill is a modal verb (like can, must, want to), and in Swedish modal verbs are normally followed directly by the infinitive without att:

Hon vill söka sommarjobb. – She wants to apply for a summer job.
Hon kan söka sommarjobb. – She can apply for a summer job.
Hon ska söka sommarjobb. – She will/shall apply for a summer job.

So vill söka (no att) is the standard pattern: modal verb + infinitive.

Why is it söka and not söker?

Söka is the infinitive, söker is the present tense.

After a modal verb like vill, Swedish uses the infinitive:

Hon söker sommarjobb. – She is looking for / applying for summer jobs.
Hon vill söka sommarjobb. – She wants to look for / apply for summer jobs.

So vill forces the next verb into infinitive form, which is söka.

What exactly does söka mean here? “Apply for” or “look for”?

In job contexts, söka jobb / söka sommarjobb can mean both:

to apply for jobs (sending applications)
to look for jobs (job-hunting)

Usually it means “apply for” in a fairly concrete sense: she wants to put in applications for summer jobs. If you want to emphasize “searching”, you can also say:

Hon vill leta efter sommarjobb. – She wants to look for a summer job.

But söka sommarjobb is the most idiomatic phrase when talking about job applications.

How is vill different from ska or skulle vilja?

vill = wants to
- Direct and neutral: Hon vill söka sommarjobb. – She wants to apply for a summer job.
ska = is going to / will (plan or intention)
- Hon ska söka sommarjobb. – She is going to apply for a summer job.
skulle vilja = would like to (more polite / tentative)
- Hon skulle vilja söka sommarjobb. – She would like to apply for a summer job.

So vill expresses a straightforward desire, less polite/soft than skulle vilja, and less about planned future action than ska.

Why is it i centrum and not something like i centrumet?

I centrum is a set phrase meaning “in the city centre / downtown” in a general sense. You normally do not use an article here.

Hon vill söka sommarjobb i centrum.
– She wants to look for a summer job in the city centre (downtown somewhere).

Centrumet (“the centre”) is used when you talk about a specific physical centre (for example a shopping centre or specific area), and usually with something that belongs to it:

Restaurangen ligger i centrumet. – The restaurant is in the (specific) centre.

But for the normal “downtown” meaning, i centrum is the standard expression.

Why do we use i and not på in i centrum?

With centrum, Swedish almost always uses i:

i centrum – in the (city) centre

Preposition choice is often idiomatic. A few patterns:

i stan – in town
på stan – (out) in town (more like “out and about downtown”)
i centrum – in the centre
på torget – on the square

So i centrum is simply the standard collocation; på centrum is not idiomatic.

What is the word order here? Could the elements be in a different order?

The sentence is:

Hon (subject)
vill (finite verb / modal)
söka (infinitive verb)
sommarjobb (object)
i centrum (place adverbial)

This is a normal Swedish main-clause word order:

Subject – Verb – (Verb) – Object – Adverbial

You can move the adverbial i centrum to the front for emphasis, but then Swedish still keeps the finite verb in second position (the V2 rule):

I centrum vill hon söka sommarjobb. – In the centre, she wants to look for a summer job.

Notice vill remains the second element.

Where would inte go if I want to say “She does not want to seek a summer job in the centre”?

In a main clause with a modal verb, inte usually goes after the finite verb:

Hon vill inte söka sommarjobb i centrum.
– She does not want to look for a summer job in the centre.

Pattern:

Subject – finite verb – inte – infinitive – object – adverbial
Hon – vill – inte – söka – sommarjobb – i centrum

Is sommarjobb singular or plural here?

Formally, sommarjobb here is indefinite singular (base form of a neuter noun).

But in practice it can have a generic meaning:

She wants to apply for a summer job.
She wants to apply for summer jobs (more than one).

Swedish often uses the bare singular in this kind of job-hunting expression and leaves the exact number vague.

Can I say ett sommarjobb i centrum if I want to stress “one specific job”?

Yes:

Hon vill söka ett sommarjobb i centrum.

This sounds like one particular job (or at least “a single job” rather than job-hunting in general). It is still natural, just a bit more specific than the bare sommarjobb.

How do you pronounce söka, sommarjobb, and centrum?

Approximate English-based descriptions:

söka – [SÖ-ka]
- ö like the vowel in British “sir” or French “peur”, but shorter and rounded.
- Stress on sö.
sommarjobb – [SOM-mar-yobb]
- Short o in sommar (like “sock”).
- Double consonants (mm, bb) make the preceding vowels short.
- jobb is like English “yob”, but with a short o.
centrum – [SEN-trum]
- c before e is pronounced like s.
- e like in “set”, u like short “oo” in “book” (Swedish u is a bit different, but close enough as an approximation).
- Stress on cen.