När hon jämför två jobb, vill hon behålla möjligheten att jobba hemifrån.

This is because Swedish is a V2 language, which means the finite verb usually comes in the second position in a main clause.

Here, the sentence starts with the subordinate clause När hon jämför två jobb. After that comes the main clause, and in the main clause the verb must come first:

• När hon jämför två jobb, vill hon ...

Not:

• När hon jämför två jobb, hon vill ...

So the pattern is:

• fronted element + verb
  • subject

For example:

• I dag jobbar hon hemma.
• När hon är trött, jobbar hon hemma.

Here, när means when.

It introduces a subordinate clause:

• När hon jämför två jobb = When she compares two jobs

A useful contrast is:

• när = when
• om = if / whether

So in this sentence, när is used because the speaker means at the time that she compares them, not if she happens to compare them.

Swedish often uses the present tense in general statements, repeated actions, and situations that are true whenever something happens.

So När hon jämför två jobb means something like:

• When she compares two jobs
• Whenever she compares two jobs

It does not have to mean only right now. It can describe a general situation or habit.

After numbers, Swedish normally does not use an indefinite article.

So you say:

• ett jobb = a job
• två jobb = two jobs

Not:

• två ett jobb

Also, jobb has the same form in singular and plural in the indefinite form:

• ett jobb
• två jobb

That is normal for this noun.

Usually, no. In Swedish, jämföra often takes a direct object.

So:

• jämföra två jobb = compare two jobs

This is very natural Swedish.

You can also see patterns like:

• jämföra något med något annat = compare something with something else

But in this sentence, just jämför två jobb is perfectly normal.

Because these are two different structures.

1. After vill

Vill is a modal verb, and modal verbs in Swedish are followed by the infinitive without att.

So:

• vill behålla
• kan jobba
• måste gå

Not:

• vill att behålla

2. After möjligheten

Here, att jobba hemifrån explains what the possibility is.

• möjligheten att jobba hemifrån = the possibility of working from home / the possibility to work from home

So here att is needed because it introduces an infinitive phrase linked to the noun möjligheten.

Because Swedish often uses the definite form when talking about a specific possibility, especially when that possibility is defined by what comes after it.

Here, the phrase att jobba hemifrån tells us exactly which possibility is meant:

• möjligheten att jobba hemifrån

So it means the possibility/opportunity to work from home, not just a possibility in a general sense.

Using en möjlighet would change the nuance and sound less natural here.

Behålla means keep, retain, or hold on to.

In this sentence, it means that she wants to continue to have that option available:

• behålla möjligheten = keep the possibility
• retain the option

So the idea is not that she is physically keeping something, but that she does not want to lose that flexibility.

Both jobba and arbeta can mean work.

The difference is mainly style:

• jobba = more common in everyday speech, slightly less formal
• arbeta = a bit more formal or neutral

In modern spoken and informal written Swedish, jobba is extremely common, so it sounds very natural here.

Hemifrån means from home.

It is a fixed Swedish adverb made from:

• hem = home
• ifrån = from

Together:

• hemifrån = from home

So:

• jobba hemifrån = work from home

This is the normal expression for remote work done from one’s home.

This is a very common question.

• hemma = at home
• hemifrån = from home

So:

• Hon är hemma = She is at home
• Hon jobbar hemifrån = She works from home

In English, work from home uses from, and Swedish matches that with hemifrån, not hemma.

Not strictly. In modern Swedish, the comma after an introductory subordinate clause is often optional.

So both of these are possible:

• När hon jämför två jobb, vill hon behålla möjligheten att jobba hemifrån.
• När hon jämför två jobb vill hon behålla möjligheten att jobba hemifrån.

The comma can make the sentence easier to read, but leaving it out is also very common.