Vem som helst kan ringa myndigheten, men bara du kan förklara problemet så tydligt.

Vem som helst is a fixed expression meaning anyone or whoever at all.

A useful pattern in Swedish is:

• vem som helst = anyone
• vad som helst = anything
• när som helst = anytime
• var som helst = anywhere

You should usually learn vem som helst as a whole chunk rather than trying to translate each word literally. The som is part of that fixed pattern.

So in this sentence, Vem som helst kan ringa myndigheten means that no special person is required to make the call — literally, any person can.

It behaves as singular.

That is why the verb is kan, which is the same form for singular and plural in modern Swedish, but the meaning is still any one person rather than all people together.

If you refer back to vem som helst, you would normally use singular-style wording, for example:

• Vem som helst kan göra det om han eller hon vill.
• More natural modern Swedish might avoid that exact phrasing, but the idea is still singular: any one person.

So the phrase means anyone, not people in general as a group.

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

Common modal verbs include:

• kan = can
• vill = want to
• ska = will / shall / be going to
• måste = must
• får = may / am allowed to

So:

• kan ringa = can call
• kan förklara = can explain

Compare that with a verb that does need att:

• börja att ringa = begin to call

English speakers often look for to, but after Swedish modal verbs, you do not use att.

Both nouns are in the definite form:

• myndigheten = the authority
• problemet = the problem

In Swedish, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun:

• en myndighet = an authority

• myndigheten = the authority

• ett problem = a problem
• problemet = the problem

They are definite here because the speaker is referring to something specific or understood from the context:

• myndigheten = the relevant authority
• problemet = the specific problem being discussed

English sometimes uses the in the same way, but Swedish often uses the definite form whenever the listener is expected to know which thing is meant.

Bara means only or just, and its position matters because it shows what is being limited or emphasized.

Here:

• bara du = only you

So the meaning is not just that you can explain the problem, but that you, and no one else, can explain it that clearly.

Compare:

• Bara du kan förklara problemet så tydligt.
  = Only you can explain the problem so clearly.

• Du kan bara förklara problemet.
  = You can only explain the problem.
  (This sounds like explaining is the only thing you can do.)

So bara usually goes near the word or phrase it focuses on.

Because tydligt is functioning as an adverb here, not an adjective.

• tydlig = clear (adjective)
• tydligt = clearly / in a clear way (adverb form)

In the sentence, it describes how the problem is explained:

• förklara problemet så tydligt = explain the problem so clearly

Compare:

• ett tydligt problem = a clear problem
  (tydligt here is an adjective agreeing with ett problem)

• förklara tydligt = explain clearly
  (tydligt here is an adverb)

This is very common in Swedish: the -t form of an adjective is often also used as an adverb.

Here så means so.

So:

• så tydligt = so clearly

It often introduces a degree or intensity:

• så bra = so well
• så snabbt = so quickly
• så tydligt = so clearly

In this sentence, it highlights the quality of the explanation: not just explaining the problem, but explaining it that clearly.

Depending on context, English might translate it as:

• so clearly
• that clearly

It follows normal Swedish main-clause word order.

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

First clause:

• Vem som helst | kan | ringa myndigheten

Second clause:

• bara du | kan | förklara problemet så tydligt

In both clauses, one unit comes first, and the finite verb kan comes second.

This may look quite similar to English here because the subject phrase is in first position. But you can see Swedish V2 more clearly if something else comes first:

• I dag kan vem som helst ringa myndigheten.
  = Today, anyone can call the authority.

Notice that kan still stays in second position.

Because men means but, and it connects two main clauses:

• Vem som helst kan ringa myndigheten
• bara du kan förklara problemet så tydligt

In Swedish, it is standard to use a comma before men when it joins two full clauses like this.

So the punctuation is very natural and standard.

Not always.

In this sentence, myndigheten means a government agency or public authority — for example, a tax office, social insurance office, migration agency, or some other official body.

But English authority can also mean:

• power or control
• expertise
• a person in charge

Swedish myndighet is narrower. It usually refers to an official institution or agency, not authority in the abstract sense.

So a learner should be careful not to assume that authority and myndighet always match perfectly.