Learn Hardcore Swedish: Kan du fråga läkaren hur länge min rygg ska göra ont? - Can you ask the doctor how long my back will hurt?

Fråga läkaren hur länge … = Ask the doctor how long …
- Direct imperative: sounds more like a direct order/instruction.
- Perfectly fine between friends or when you’re giving clear instructions.
Kan du fråga läkaren hur länge … ? = Can you ask the doctor how long … ?
- Grammatically a yes/no question, but pragmatically a polite request, similar to English.
- Feels softer and more polite in many situations (e.g. at the doctor’s, with someone you don’t know well).

Even more polite: Skulle du kunna fråga läkaren …? (Could you ask the doctor…?)

Why don’t you use a preposition after fråga, like in English “ask the doctor” vs “ask to the doctor”?

In Swedish, fråga works differently from English ask in terms of prepositions:

fråga någon – ask someone
- Ingen preposition: fråga läkaren, fråga honom, fråga din kompis.
fråga om något – ask about something
- e.g. fråga om vägen – ask for directions
- fråga om priset – ask about the price

So:

✅ Kan du fråga läkaren … ? – Can you ask the doctor … ?
❌ Kan du fråga till läkaren … ? – incorrect

Why is it läkaren (with -en) and not en läkare?

-en on läkare makes it definite:

en läkare – a doctor (indefinite)
läkaren – the doctor (definite)

In this sentence, you and the listener both know which doctor you mean (e.g. “my” doctor, “the” doctor in this context), so Swedish uses the definite form:

Kan du fråga läkaren … ? – Can you ask the doctor … ?

Using en läkare would sound more like any random doctor, not the one already known from context.

What does hur länge mean exactly, and could I say hur lång tid instead?

hur länge literally means how long (in time), and it’s the most common way to ask about duration:

Hur länge ska det göra ont? – How long will it hurt?

You can also say:

Hur lång tid ska det göra ont? – literally How long time will it hurt?

Differences:

hur länge – shorter, more everyday, very common.
hur lång tid – a bit more explicit / formal, but also common.

In your sentence, both would be grammatically fine:

Kan du fråga läkaren hur länge min rygg ska göra ont?
Kan du fråga läkaren hur lång tid min rygg ska göra ont? (possible, but sounds a bit heavier)

In hur länge min rygg ska göra ont, why is the word order min rygg ska and not ska min rygg?

Because this is an indirect question (a subordinate clause), not a direct question.

Direct question (main clause):
Hur länge ska min rygg göra ont?
Verb comes before subject (V2 rule in main clauses).
Indirect question (subordinate clause):
… hur länge min rygg ska göra ont.
In subordinate clauses, subject usually comes before the verb.

So after hur länge in an indirect question, the order is:

Subject: min rygg
Verb: ska
Rest: göra ont

That’s why it’s hur länge min rygg ska göra ont, not hur länge ska min rygg göra ont in this context.

Why is ska used here for the future instead of kommer att?

Both ska and kommer att can refer to the future, but they have slightly different typical uses:

ska
- Often used for:
  - plans, intentions, arrangements
    Jag ska träffa läkaren imorgon. – I’m going to see the doctor tomorrow.
  - things that are expected / supposed to happen
    Det ska regna imorgon. – It’s supposed to rain tomorrow.
- Very common in everyday speech for many future meanings.
kommer att
- Often used for:
  - more neutral, “will happen” future
    Det kommer att göra ont. – It will hurt.
- Slightly more impersonal or descriptive.

In hur länge min rygg ska göra ont, ska expresses “for how long it is going to be the case that my back hurts” – an expected/assumed future condition. You could say:

… hur länge min rygg kommer att göra ont,
which is also correct but a bit more neutral/descriptive in tone.

What does the expression göra ont mean, and how is it different from using a verb like “hurt” directly?

Swedish doesn’t usually use a single verb for hurt in this sense. Instead it uses:

göra ont – literally do/make hurt
- Det gör ont. – It hurts.
- Min rygg gör ont. – My back hurts.

Here:

göra = do / make (infinitive)
ont = pain / hurt (an adverb/adjective-like word here)

So ska göra ont = will hurt / is going to hurt.

You wouldn’t normally say a direct verb like min rygg skadar to mean my back hurts; skada is more like damage. The idiomatic way is göra ont or ha ont i + body part (see next question).

Why is it min rygg and not just ryggen? Don’t Swedes often skip the possessive with body parts?

You’re right that Swedish often uses the definite form without a possessive for body parts when the owner is clear from context:

Jag har ont i ryggen. – literally I have pain in the back → My back hurts.
Han tvättar händerna. – He’s washing (his) hands.

So you could say:

Kan du fråga läkaren hur länge jag ska ha ont i ryggen?
(Can you ask the doctor how long I will have pain in my back?)

In your sentence, though, min rygg is not wrong. It:

makes the ownership explicit (my back, not someone else’s),
is natural because min rygg is the subject of ska göra ont, not part of a fixed phrase like ha ont i ryggen.

Both patterns are acceptable; ha ont i ryggen is a bit more idiomatic when talking about back pain in general, but min rygg ska göra ont is perfectly understandable and grammatical.

Is there a more idiomatic way to say “my back will hurt” in Swedish than min rygg ska göra ont?

A very common and idiomatic pattern is ha ont i + body part:

Jag har ont i ryggen. – I have pain in the back / My back hurts.
Future:
Jag kommer att ha ont i ryggen. / Jag ska ha ont i ryggen.

So you could rephrase the whole sentence as:

Kan du fråga läkaren hur länge jag kommer att ha ont i ryggen?
Kan du fråga läkaren hur länge jag ska ha ont i ryggen?

These sound particularly natural to native speakers when talking specifically about pain in a body part.

What is the gender and basic forms of rygg, and how do I say “the back”, “backs”, “the backs”?

rygg is an en-word (common gender):

Indefinite singular: en rygg – a back
Definite singular: ryggen – the back
Indefinite plural: ryggar – backs
Definite plural: ryggarna – the backs

In your sentence, min rygg uses a possessive instead of the definite ending:

min rygg – my back
min is used with en-words in singular.

How could I make this sentence more formal or extra polite in Swedish?

You can adjust several parts:

Soften Kan du:
- Skulle du kunna fråga läkaren … ? – Could you ask the doctor … ?
- Even more formal: Skulle du kunna vara snäll och fråga läkaren … ? – Could you be so kind as to ask the doctor … ?
Use ni instead of du (in some very formal / service contexts):
- Skulle ni kunna fråga läkaren … ? (rare in everyday conversation, more in old‑fashioned or very formal contexts)

A natural, politely formal version:

Skulle du kunna fråga läkaren hur länge jag ska ha ont i ryggen?