Learn Hardcore Swedish: Barnen vill bygga ett hus själva. - The children want to build a house themselves.

barn = child / children (indefinite, can be singular or plural depending on context)
- ett barn = a child
- (flera) barn = (several) children
barnen = the children (definite plural)

In Swedish, the definite article is usually added as an ending:

singular definite: barnet = the child
plural definite: barnen = the children

So barnen vill… literally means “the children want…”.

Why is there no word like “the” before barnen? Why not de barnen?

In Swedish, the normal way to say “the children” is simply barnen. The -en ending already contains the “the” meaning.

Using a separate article plus a definite ending (like de barnen) is usually:

either incorrect, or
only used in special emphatic or contrastive contexts (e.g. just de barnen, inte de andra – “those children, not the others”).

In a neutral sentence like this one, you just say:

Barnen vill bygga ett hus själva. = The children want to build a house themselves.

Why is it vill bygga and not vill att bygga? Don’t we need att before the verb?

After modal verbs like:

vill (want to)
kan (can)
måste (must)
ska (shall / going to)

you normally use the infinitive without att:

Jag vill äta. = I want to eat.
Hon kan simma. = She can swim.
Barnen vill bygga ett hus. = The children want to build a house.

You use att + infinitive in other structures:

Det är roligt att bygga hus. = It is fun to build houses.
Jag försöker att förstå. (in some styles; often just försöker förstå)

So here vill bygga is correct, and vill att bygga would sound wrong.

What is the function of själva in this sentence?

Själva means “themselves” in the sense of:

doing it on their own / without help, or
emphasizing they, rather than someone else, will do it.

So:

Barnen vill bygga ett hus själva.
= The children want to build a house themselves (not with help, not someone else building it for them).

It’s an emphatic/intensive pronoun that adds the idea of independence or contrast.

Why is it själva and not själv? How does it agree with barnen?

The word själv changes form depending on number (and sometimes gender):

singular:
- jag själv = I myself
- du själv = you yourself
- han själv / hon själv = he himself / she herself
- det själv / den själv (less common, often just själv)
plural:
- vi själva = we ourselves
- ni själva = you (pl.) yourselves
- de själva = they themselves

In our sentence:

barnen = they (plural)
so we use själva (plural form): Barnen vill bygga ett hus själva.

Why is it själva and not sig själva? In English we’d say the children want to build themselves a house.

Swedish makes a distinction between:

själv / själva = “(oneself) in person, on one’s own, without help” (intensive)
sig själv / sig själva = reflexive object (“themselves” as an object)

In this sentence, the children are not the object of bygga (build). The object is ett hus (a house). The meaning is:

They want to build a house, and do it themselves (without help).

So we use the intensive form:

Barnen vill bygga ett hus själva.

If you wanted a reflexive object, you’d need a verb where them is the object, for example:

Barnen tvättar sig själva. = The children wash themselves.

Why is it ett hus and not en hus?

Swedish has two grammatical genders:

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

The noun hus (house) is an ett-word:

ett hus = a house
huset = the house
hus = houses (indefinite plural – same form as singular)
husen = the houses (definite plural)

So the correct indefinite singular is ett hus, not en hus. You just have to learn the gender of each noun.

What’s the difference between “ett hus” and “huset” here? Can I say Barnen vill bygga huset själva?

Yes, you can say both, but the meaning changes slightly:

Barnen vill bygga ett hus själva.
= The children want to build a house themselves (some house, not specified which one).
Barnen vill bygga huset själva.
= The children want to build the house themselves (a particular house we already know about from context).

So:

ett hus = a house, unspecified
huset = the house, specific/known

Can we move själva earlier in the sentence, like Barnen vill själva bygga ett hus? Does that change the meaning?

Yes, that word order is possible, and it slightly shifts the emphasis:

Barnen vill bygga ett hus själva.
Main focus: they want to build the house by themselves (no help with the building).
Barnen vill själva bygga ett hus.
Main focus: they themselves want to do the building (not, for example, their parents or a construction company).

Both are grammatical, but placing själva right after the verb phrase it modifies changes what is being contrasted or emphasized:

bygga ett hus själva = do the building on their own
vill själva bygga = they (and not somebody else) want to do the building

How is bygga formed? Is it the infinitive form?

Yes, bygga is the infinitive form of the verb att bygga (to build).

The pattern in the sentence is:

vill (present tense of vilja, “to want”)
- bygga (infinitive “build” without att after a modal)

General pattern:

Jag vill bygga. = I want to build.
Du vill läsa. = You want to read.
De vill resa. = They want to travel.

How do you pronounce barnen, bygga, and själva?

Approximate pronunciation (Swedish varies by region, this is a common standard):

barnen: [BAHR-nen]
- bar like English “bar” but with a slightly longer vowel
- -nen like “nen” in “linen”
bygga: [BYG-ga]
- by like “bü” (like German ü, a rounded front vowel; often written as [y])
- gg here is a hard g sound, so roughly “büg-ga”
själva: [SHELL-va] (approximate)
- sj is a special Swedish sound, often described as a kind of breathy “sh/h” made further back in the mouth
- ä like “e” in “bed”
- lv roughly like “lv” in “solve”, then a short a as in “cup” (but shorter)

In careful phonetic symbols (roughly):

barnen [ˈbɑːɳɛn]
bygga [ˈbʏgːa]
själva [ˈɧɛlva]