Föreningen värvar volontärer genom att dela ut affischer.

Föreningen is the definite singular form of en förening.

• en förening = an association, a club, an organization
• föreningen = the association / the organization

In Swedish, definiteness is often shown by an ending on the noun, so English the is often built into the word itself.

Värvar is the present tense of värva.

• att värva = to recruit, enlist, sign up
• värvar = recruits / is recruiting

Swedish uses the same present-tense form for all subjects:

• jag värvar
• du värvar
• föreningen värvar

So unlike English, there is no extra -s only for he/she/it.

Yes. Swedish present tense often covers both ideas.

So Föreningen värvar volontärer can mean:

• The organization recruits volunteers
• The organization is recruiting volunteers

Context tells you whether it is a general fact, a habit, or something happening now.

Because volontärer is an indefinite plural noun, and Swedish usually has no article in that case.

Compare:

• en volontär = a volunteer
• volontärer = volunteers / some volunteers
• volontärerna = the volunteers

This is very common in Swedish. English often uses some or just a bare plural, and Swedish usually just uses the bare plural.

Genom att is a very common expression meaning by doing or through doing.

So:

• genom att dela ut affischer = by handing out posters

It introduces the method or means used to do something.

After genom att, Swedish uses the infinitive form of the verb.

• att dela ut = to hand out
• delar ut = hands out / are handing out

So:

• genom att dela ut affischer = by handing out posters

Using delar ut there would be ungrammatical.

It is a particle verb: dela ut.

Together, it means hand out or distribute.

That is important because dela by itself usually means divide or share. The particle ut changes the meaning.

Some similar Swedish particle verbs are:

• skriva ut = print out
• städa upp = clean up
• slå på = turn on

So you should learn dela ut as a unit.

For the same reason as with volontärer: affischer is an indefinite plural.

• en affisch = a poster
• affischer = posters / some posters
• affischerna = the posters

Swedish does not normally need a separate word for some here.

The sentence follows normal Swedish main-clause word order:

• Föreningen = subject
• värvar = verb
• volontärer = object
• genom att dela ut affischer = adverbial phrase showing method

So the pattern is:

subject + verb + object + adverbial

That is very standard Swedish word order.

Yes. You can move that part to the front for emphasis:

Genom att dela ut affischer värvar föreningen volontärer.

This is still correct. The important thing is that Swedish main clauses follow the V2 rule, which means the finite verb stays in the second position.

So when the sentence starts with the adverbial, the verb värvar still comes second, and the subject föreningen comes after it.

They are very close, and both can often be translated as recruit.

But there is a small difference in feel:

• värva often suggests actively trying to win people over, sign them up, or attract them to a group, cause, or activity
• rekrytera can sound a bit more formal and is very common for hiring staff or filling positions

In this sentence, värvar volontärer sounds very natural, because it is about getting people to join as volunteers.