Breakdown of Imorgon ska vi sortera glas, papper och plast innan vi går till jobbet.
Questions & Answers about Imorgon ska vi sortera glas, papper och plast innan vi går till jobbet.
Why is Imorgon at the beginning, and why does the sentence then say ska vi instead of vi ska?
This is because Swedish follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb must come in the second position.
So when Imorgon is placed first for emphasis, the verb ska must come next:
- Imorgon ska vi sortera ...
If you started with the subject instead, you would say:
- Vi ska sortera ... imorgon.
Both are correct, but the first version highlights tomorrow.
What does ska mean here?
Here ska is used to talk about a future or planned action. It often corresponds to English will, are going to, or sometimes are to.
So ska vi sortera means something like:
- we will sort
- we are going to sort
In this sentence, it sounds like a plan or intention for tomorrow.
Why is it sortera and not att sortera after ska?
After modal verbs like ska, Swedish uses the bare infinitive, without att.
So you say:
- ska sortera
- kan gå
- vill äta
not:
- ska att sortera
This is similar to English, where we say will sort, not will to sort.
Why are there no articles before glas, papper och plast?
Because these words are being used in a general/category sense. The sentence is talking about types of recycling material, not specific individual objects.
So Swedish naturally says:
- sortera glas, papper och plast
This is like English saying:
- sort glass, paper, and plastic
If you were talking about specific items, the wording could be different.
Does glas here mean glass as a material or a glass like a drinking glass?
Here glas means glass as a material, or more practically glass recycling.
Swedish glas can mean:
- glass as a substance
- a glass / a drinking glass, depending on context
In this sentence, because it appears with papper and plast, it clearly means the material category.
Why is it innan vi går and not innan går vi?
Because innan vi går till jobbet is a subordinate clause.
In Swedish, the V2 rule applies to main clauses, but not in the same way to subordinate clauses. In a subordinate clause, the normal order is:
- subject + verb
So:
- innan vi går till jobbet
not:
- innan går vi till jobbet
This is an important difference between main and subordinate clause word order in Swedish.
Why is there no att after innan?
Because innan is already a conjunction meaning before. It directly introduces the clause:
- innan vi går till jobbet
You do not add att here.
Compare:
- innan vi går = before we go
Swedish does not use an extra word corresponding to English that in this structure.
Why does it say går till jobbet? Does går mean they are walking?
Not necessarily. In Swedish, gå till jobbet often means go to work, and it does not always mean going on foot.
Although gå can literally mean walk, it is also commonly used in expressions about going somewhere, especially in everyday language.
So here vi går till jobbet is best understood as:
- we go to work
If the speaker wanted to be very specific about the method of travel, they might use another verb such as åker.
Why is it jobbet and not just jobb or arbete?
Jobbet is the definite form of jobb, meaning the job or, more naturally here, work / the workplace.
In Swedish, till jobbet is a very common idiomatic expression meaning:
- to work
- to the workplace
You could also see arbetet in some contexts, but jobbet is usually more natural and common in everyday speech.
Why is jobbet definite? In English we usually just say to work, not to the work.
This is just one of those places where Swedish and English organize the phrase differently.
Swedish commonly uses the definite form in expressions like:
- gå till jobbet
- komma hem
- åka till skolan
So even though English says to work, Swedish often uses something closer to to the job/workplace.
It is best learned as a natural expression: gå till jobbet.
Could the sentence also be Vi ska sortera glas, papper och plast imorgon ...? Is there a difference?
Yes, that would also be correct.
Compare:
Imorgon ska vi sortera ...
This emphasizes tomorrow.Vi ska sortera ... imorgon.
This sounds more neutral, with less special focus on the time.
So the difference is mainly about emphasis and information structure, not basic meaning.
Is there anything special about the punctuation in this sentence?
Yes: Swedish often uses fewer commas than English.
In this sentence, there is normally no comma before innan:
- Imorgon ska vi sortera glas, papper och plast innan vi går till jobbet.
That is standard Swedish punctuation. English might sometimes be more flexible with commas, but Swedish usually keeps this kind of sentence unpunctuated before the subordinate clause.
Sign up free — start using our AI language tutor
Start learning SwedishMaster Swedish — from Imorgon ska vi sortera glas, papper och plast innan vi går till jobbet to fluency
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods.
- ✓ Infinitely deep — unlimited vocabulary and grammar
- ✓ Fast-paced — build complex sentences from the start
- ✓ Unforgettable — efficient spaced repetition system
- ✓ AI tutor to answer your grammar questions