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Jag tror att hon inte hittar bankkortet hemma, men hon letar ändå.

Jag tror att hon inte hittar bankkortet hemma, men hon letar ändå.
I think that she doesn’t find the debit card at home, but she looks anyway.

Breakdown of Jag tror att hon inte hittar bankkortet hemma, men hon letar ändå.

jag
I
hemma
at home
hon
she
inte
not
men
but
hitta
to find
att
that
ändå
anyway
tro
to think
bankkortet
the debit card
leta
to look for
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Questions & Answers about Jag tror att hon inte hittar bankkortet hemma, men hon letar ändå.

Why is it Jag tror att... and not Jag tror... without att?

Both are possible. Att is the subordinating conjunction meaning that, and it’s very common after verbs like tro (to believe/think).

  • Jag tror att hon inte hittar... = more explicit, very standard in writing and careful speech.
  • Jag tror hon inte hittar... = also correct and common in speech (and fairly common in writing too), just slightly more informal/less “marked” as a subordinate clause.
Why is inte placed before hittar in att hon inte hittar?

Because after a subordinator like att, Swedish uses subordinate clause word order: the negation inte normally comes before the finite verb.

  • Main clause: Hon hittar inte bankkortet. (verb before inte)
  • Subordinate clause: ... att hon inte hittar bankkortet. (inte before verb)
Can I say Jag tror att hon hittar inte bankkortet hemma?

Not in standard Swedish. Hittar inte in that order is main-clause style and sounds wrong inside an att-clause. The natural version is:

  • Jag tror att hon inte hittar bankkortet hemma.
What’s the difference between hittar and letar here?

They’re different actions:

  • hittar = finds / manages to find (successful result)
  • letar = looks for / searches (the process, success unknown)

So the sentence contrasts “She doesn’t find it” with “She’s still searching.”

Why is bankkortet in the definite form (-et)?

Swedish often uses the definite form when referring to a specific, known item in the context—here, the (particular) bank card she’s missing.

  • ett bankkort = a bank card (indefinite)
  • bankkortet = the bank card (definite)
Is bankkortet one word? Why isn’t it written as bank kortet?

Yes, it’s one word. Swedish compounds are usually written together:

  • bankkort = bank + card
    Then the definite ending attaches: bankkort + et → bankkortet.
What does hemma mean here, and how is it different from hem?
  • hemma = at home (location/state)
  • hem = (to) home (direction/movement)

Here it’s about location: she’s not finding it at home, so hemma is correct.

Why does it say men hon letar ändå? What does ändå add?

Ändå means something like anyway / nevertheless / still. It signals contrast: despite the expectation that she won’t find it, she continues the action.
So men hon letar ändå ≈ but she keeps looking anyway.

Where does ändå go in the sentence? Could it be placed somewhere else?

Yes, ändå is fairly flexible, with small shifts in emphasis. Common options:

  • ... men hon letar ändå. (very natural)
  • ... men ändå letar hon. (more emphasis on “nevertheless”)
  • ... men hon letar ändå efter det. (if you add an object, ändå often sits before/near the verb or before the verb phrase)

In this sentence, putting it at the end is idiomatic and keeps the rhythm simple.

Why is there a comma before men?

Because men connects two independent clauses (each could stand as a sentence):

  • Jag tror att hon inte hittar bankkortet hemma
  • hon letar ändå

In Swedish, a comma before men is common and recommended when it separates two full clauses like this.

Why is it Jag tror and not Jag tänker?

In Swedish, tro is the usual verb for think/believe (that something is the case):

  • Jag tror att... = “I think/believe that...” (opinion/assumption)

Tänka often means to think in the sense of to reflect/plan/intend:

  • Jag tänker leta. = “I’m thinking of searching / I intend to search.”
    So Jag tror att... is the right choice for a belief about what’s happening.
Could you drop hon in the second clause and say ..., men letar ändå?

Not normally in standard Swedish. Swedish usually requires an explicit subject in finite clauses. So you keep hon:

  • ..., men hon letar ändå.

Dropping it would sound fragment-like and is generally not grammatical in neutral modern Swedish.