Målvakten räddar bollen.

In Swedish, -en here is the definite article attached to the end of the noun. It means the.

• målvakt = goalkeeper

• målvakten = the goalkeeper

• boll = ball
• bollen = the ball

So Swedish often says the goalkeeper and the ball by adding the article to the noun, instead of putting a separate word like English the in front.

The basic forms are:

• målvakt = goalkeeper
• rädda = to save
• boll = ball

In the sentence:

• målvakten is the definite singular form of målvakt
• räddar is the present tense of rädda
• bollen is the definite singular form of boll

So the sentence is built from those three base words.

Because räddar is the present tense form.

• rädda = to save
• räddar = saves / is saving

So:

• Målvakten räddar bollen. = The goalkeeper saves the ball.

A useful point for English speakers: Swedish verbs do not change for different persons.

• jag räddar = I save
• du räddar = you save
• han/hon räddar = he/she saves
• vi räddar = we save

The verb form stays the same.

Yes. Räddar is present tense, so the sentence means:

• The goalkeeper saves the ball
• or, depending on context, The goalkeeper is saving the ball

Swedish present tense often covers both the simple present and the English progressive idea, depending on context.

A rough pronunciation guide is:

MOHL-vak-ten RED-dar BOL-len

A few important sound notes:

• å in mål- sounds roughly like the vowel in British English more or law
• ä in räddar sounds somewhat like the vowel in bed, but not exactly the same
• j is not pronounced in målvakt because there is no j there; the l is pronounced clearly
• stress falls mainly on the first syllable of each main word:
  • MÅLvakten
  • RÄDdar
  • BOLLen

If you want to sound more natural, focus especially on the vowels å and ä, since they are important in Swedish.

It is a compound noun:

• mål = goal
• vakt = guard / watchman

So målvakt literally means something like goal-guard, which corresponds to English goalkeeper.

Compounds are very common in Swedish, and this is a good example of one.

This is the normal basic word order for a simple statement in Swedish:

subject + verb + object

So here:

• Målvakten = subject
• räddar = verb
• bollen = object

This is very similar to English:

• The goalkeeper
  • saves
    • the ball

So for a basic statement, the structure is straightforward.

Yes, but that changes the sentence type.
Räddar målvakten bollen? would normally be a question:

• Is the goalkeeper saving the ball?
• Does the goalkeeper save the ball?

In Swedish, putting the verb first often makes it a yes/no question.

So:

• Målvakten räddar bollen. = statement
• Räddar målvakten bollen? = question

It would be:

En målvakt räddar en boll.

That means:

• A goalkeeper saves a ball

Compare:

• målvakt = goalkeeper
• en målvakt = a goalkeeper
• målvakten = the goalkeeper

and

• boll = ball
• en boll = a ball
• bollen = the ball

So Swedish can show definiteness either with a separate word like en for a/an, or with a suffix like -en for the.

The common plural forms are:

• målvakt → målvakter = goalkeepers

• målvakterna = the goalkeepers

• boll → bollar = balls
• bollarna = the balls

So you can compare:

• målvakten = the goalkeeper

• målvakterna = the goalkeepers

• bollen = the ball
• bollarna = the balls

This helps you see how Swedish builds definite forms in both singular and plural.