Breakdown of I hörnet av vardagsrummet står en bokhylla som barnen själva har byggt.
Questions & Answers about I hörnet av vardagsrummet står en bokhylla som barnen själva har byggt.
Swedish has the V2 rule (verb-second) in main clauses: the finite verb must come in second position in the sentence.
The sentence starts with an adverbial phrase:
- I hörnet av vardagsrummet = In the corner of the living room
Since that whole phrase occupies the first position, the verb must come next:
- I hörnet av vardagsrummet
- står ← finite verb
- en bokhylla ← subject
If you start with the subject, you get normal S–V order:
- En bokhylla står i hörnet av vardagsrummet.
Both are correct; the original just chooses to foreground the location.
Swedish often uses position verbs instead of är to describe where something is:
- stå = to stand (used for tall or upright objects, e.g. a bookcase, a lamp)
- ligga = to lie (for things lying flat, e.g. a book on a table, a town on a map)
- sitta = to sit (for things in a “sitting” position, or people sitting)
So:
- I hörnet av vardagsrummet står en bokhylla
≈ In the corner of the living room there *is a bookcase,
but literally: a bookcase **stands in the corner of the living room.*
Using är here would sound unnatural in Swedish; står gives a more precise, idiomatic description.
Both are possible, but they differ slightly in style:
i hörnet av vardagsrummet
- Very common, neutral, everyday phrasing.
- Literally: in the corner of the living room (preposition av
- noun).
i vardagsrummets hörn
- Grammatical, but sounds a bit more formal or written, because of the -s genitive (vardagsrummets).
- Literally: in the living room’s corner.
English also tends to prefer “the corner of the room” over “the room’s corner”. Swedish shows a similar preference here.
Swedish distinguishes between new and already-known information using the definite/indefinite forms:
- en bokhylla = a bookcase (new information, first mention)
- vardagsrummet = the living room (assumed known/shared context)
We usually already know what living room we are talking about (the one in the house/apartment), so it’s definite:
- vardagsrum (indefinite) → vardagsrummet (the living room)
The bookcase is introduced for the first time, so it is indefinite:
- en bokhylla = a bookcase
If you continue talking, you would switch to the definite for later mentions:
- I hörnet av vardagsrummet står en bokhylla. Bokhyllan är vit.
In the corner … there is a bookcase. *The bookcase is white.*
Vardagsrummet is built from:
- vardag = weekday, everyday
- rum = room
→ vardagsrum = living room (literally “everyday-room”) - vardagsrummet = the living room (definite form, neuter)
Grammar-wise:
- The base noun is ett vardagsrum (neuter).
- The definite ending for many neuter nouns is -et or -t.
- Because the word ends in -m, it becomes vardagsrum
- met → vardagsrummet.
So vardagsrummet is just ett vardagsrum in its definite form.
Som is a relative pronoun here, introducing a relative clause that describes en bokhylla:
- en bokhylla som barnen själva har byggt
= a bookcase that the children themselves have built
Inside this clause:
- som functions like English “that/which/who”.
- It stands for the object being described (the bookcase).
- It is the object of the verb har byggt (“have built”).
You could think of it as:
- en bokhylla [som barnen själva har byggt (den)]
= a bookcase that the children themselves have built (it).
Swedish subordinate clauses (like relative clauses) do not follow the V2 rule. Instead, they normally follow this order:
- [subjunction/relative] + subject + (mid-field words) + finite verb + rest
So:
- som (relative pronoun)
- barnen (subject)
- själva (emphasizing “the children themselves”)
- har (finite verb)
- byggt (supine)
→ som barnen själva har byggt
Compare:
- Main clause: Barnen har själva byggt bokhyllan. (V2: har is in second position)
- Subordinate: …som barnen själva har byggt. (no V2; subject comes before har)
Som barnen har själva byggt is possible, but the placement of själva slightly changes the focus (see next question).
Själva (plural form of själv) is an emphasizing word meaning “themselves”. It stresses who did the action.
- barnen själva ≈ the children themselves, not someone else
Placing själva right after barnen emphasizes the subject:
- som barnen själva har byggt
→ the important point is that it was the children (not adults, not professionals) who built it.
If you say:
- som barnen har själva byggt
the stress subtly shifts more towards the act of building it themselves (as opposed to buying it ready-made), rather than the contrast between barnen and some other group.
Both are understandable, but som barnen själva har byggt is more natural and common in this context.
Barn is an irregular neuter noun:
- ett barn = a child
- barn = children (plural, same form as singular)
- barnen = the children (definite plural)
So in the sentence:
- barnen means the children (a specific group of kids, presumably known from context).
If you said som barn själva har byggt, it would sound like “that children themselves have built” (children in general), which is not usually what is meant here. The definite form barnen is natural: it’s these particular children who built the bookcase.
Har byggt is the present perfect in Swedish:
- har (present of ha, to have) + byggt (supine of bygga)
→ har byggt = have built
It is similar to English:
- they have built the bookcase
You could use byggde (simple past):
- …som barnen själva byggde. = that the children themselves built.
Both are grammatically correct. The nuance:
- har byggt: often emphasizes the result/state in the present (there now exists a bookcase that they have built).
- byggde: more neutral past narrative.
In everyday speech, both forms are common; har byggt fits well with the idea of a present result (the bookcase is there now).
In har byggt, the word byggt is the supine form of bygga (“to build”), not an agreeing adjective.
- infinitive: att bygga = to build
- present: bygger = build(s)
- preterite (simple past): byggde = built
- supine: byggt (used with har/hade)
Swedish uses the supine (not the participle) with har/hade:
- har byggt = has/have built
- hade byggt = had built
The -d/-t participle forms like byggd/byggt/byggda are used adjectivally or with bli/vara:
- en byggd bokhylla = a built bookcase (adjective)
- Bokhyllan är byggd av barnen. = The bookcase is built by the children.
Swedish nouns have grammatical gender, common or neuter:
- en = common gender
- ett = neuter gender
Hylla (shelf) is a common gender noun:
- en hylla = a shelf
- en bokhylla = a bookcase (literally “book-shelf”)
Since the head noun hylla is common gender, the compound bokhylla is also treated as common gender:
- en bokhylla (indefinite)
- bokhyllan (definite, “the bookcase”)
Yes, bokhylla is written as one word in Swedish.
Swedish very frequently forms compound nouns:
- bok (book) + hylla (shelf) → bokhylla (bookcase)
- vardags (everyday) + rum (room) → vardagsrum (living room)
In Swedish spelling:
- You normally join the parts into a single word.
- Writing bok hylla as two words would be incorrect and could be misleading.
So en bokhylla is the standard, correct form.
Yes, that sentence is perfectly correct:
- En bokhylla som barnen själva har byggt står i hörnet av vardagsrummet.
The meaning is essentially the same. The difference is just what you foreground:
Original: I hörnet av vardagsrummet står en bokhylla…
→ Focuses first on the location, then introduces what is there.Variant: En bokhylla som barnen själva har byggt står i hörnet av vardagsrummet.
→ Introduces the bookcase first, then says where it is.
Both obey the word order rules (V2, etc.) and sound natural.