Bollen ligger nära målvakten.

Because bollen means the ball, while en boll means a ball.

In Swedish, the definite article is usually added to the end of the noun as a suffix:

• en boll = a ball
• bollen = the ball

So instead of using a separate word like English the, Swedish often attaches -en, -et, -n, or -t to the noun.

For the same reason: målvakten means the goalkeeper, while målvakt means goalkeeper in a more general sense.

• en målvakt = a goalkeeper
• målvakten = the goalkeeper

So the sentence is talking about a specific ball and a specific goalkeeper.

Because Swedish normally expresses definiteness by adding an ending to the noun.

Compare:

• the ball → bollen
• the goalkeeper → målvakten

English puts the before the noun. Swedish usually puts the definite marker on the noun itself.

Swedish often prefers a position verb when describing where something is.

Here, ligger comes from ligga, which usually means to lie or to be lying. For objects like a ball, this is very natural when describing location.

So:

• Bollen ligger nära målvakten = the ball is lying / is located near the goalkeeper

You can sometimes hear är nära in Swedish, but ligger nära sounds more natural when talking about the physical position of an object.

The infinitive is ligga.

Some useful forms are:

• att ligga = to lie
• ligger = lies / is lying
• låg = lay / was lying
• legat = lain / been lying

In this sentence, ligger is the present tense.

Because Swedish uses the present tense form after the subject in a normal statement.

• att ligga = infinitive, to lie
• ligger = present tense, lies / is lying

So:

• Bollen ligger... = The ball lies / is lying...

Using ligga here would be like saying The ball to lie..., which is not grammatical.

Here, nära means near and works to show closeness in space.

In this sentence, it links the ball to the goalkeeper:

• nära målvakten = near the goalkeeper

You can think of it as the word that introduces the location relationship.

Because Swedish structure is simpler here than English learners sometimes expect.

You just say:

• nära målvakten = near the goalkeeper

There is no extra linking word needed. Nära is followed directly by the noun phrase.

The word order is:

• Bollen = subject
• ligger = verb
• nära målvakten = location phrase

So the pattern is:

subject + verb + place/location

This is a very common Swedish sentence pattern.

Yes, that is grammatical, but it changes the focus.

• Bollen ligger nära målvakten focuses on the ball
• Målvakten är nära bollen focuses on the goalkeeper

Both can describe a similar situation, but they are not identical in emphasis.

That is a very common question. In Swedish, ligga is often used for the position of objects that are resting somewhere, especially things that are seen as lying rather than standing.

A ball on the ground is naturally described with ligga:

• Bollen ligger på marken = The ball is on the ground

Swedish often uses different position verbs where English might simply use is:

• ligga = lie
• stå = stand
• sitta = sit

So this sentence is very natural Swedish.

A simple learner-friendly guide would be:

BOLL-en LIG-er NER-a MOHL-vak-ten

A few notes:

• boll has a short o sound
• g in ligger is pronounced as a hard g
• nära has an ä sound somewhat like the vowel in air in some accents, though not exactly
• målvakten begins with mål, where å is a broad vowel, roughly like aw in law

Exact pronunciation depends on accent, but this approximation is a good start.

They are:

• boll = ball
• målvakt = goalkeeper

In the sentence, both are in the definite singular form:

• bollen = the ball
• målvakten = the goalkeeper

So when you look them up in a dictionary, you would usually search for boll and målvakt.