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Sometimes the subject of a sentence isn't a person or a thing, but an action. In Swedish, you can use an infinitive clause starting with **att** (to) as the entire syntactic subject of your sentence.

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### Keeping the V2 Word Order

The most important rule to remember is how the clause fits into Swedish's strict V2 (verb-second) word order. 

The *entire* infinitive phrase counts as a single building block in the first position. Therefore, the main verb of the sentence must come immediately after the phrase ends.

Notice the structure in the example above: **[Att mästra ett språk]** (Position 1: Subject) + **[kräver]** (Position 2: Main verb) + **[tid]** (Position 3: Object).

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### Clause Length

An infinitive subject can be as short as a single verb, or it can be long and complex, containing its own objects, adverbs, or phrasal verb particles. Regardless of its length, the whole clause still acts as one grammatical unit before the main sentence verb.

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Infinitive clauses as subjects (att...)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

The definite ending (barnet, hunden)

Indefinite articles and -ar verbs (en, ett)

Basic word order

Singular adjectives (stor, stort)

Plural adjectives (-a)

Sentence negation (inte)

Yes/No questions

Basic question words (vad, vem, var)

Regular Group 2 verbs (-er)

Short verbs and irregulars (har, gör)

The infinitive marker (att)

Modal verbs (kan, vill, måste, får)

Future intention (ska)

Time adverbs (imorgon, igår)

Word order inversion

Adverbs of frequency (ibland, aldrig)

Everyday things (dörren, stolen, tåget)

Definite suffix spelling changes

Plural nouns Group 1 and 2 (-or, -ar)

Plural nouns Group 3 (-er, -r)

Neuter indefinite plurals

Definite plural suffixes (-na, -a, -en)

Object pronouns (mig, dig, oss)

Reflexive pronouns (sig)

Expanded question words (när, varför)

Which and what (vilken, vilket, vilka)

Coordinating conjunctions (men, eller, för)

Prepositions of place (i, på, till, från)

Quantifiers (mycket, många)

Indefinite pronouns (någon, något, några)

First and second person possessives (min, din, vår, er)

Third person possessives (hans, hennes, dess, deras)

Reflexive possessives (sin, sitt, sina)

The genitive (-s)

Adjectives before singular nouns

Adjectives before plural nouns (-a)

Double definiteness (den, det, de)

Demonstratives (den här, det här, de här)

The imperative mood

Past tense of vara and ha (var, hade)

Possessives for names (-s)

Definite plural adjectives (de ... -a)

Genitive case for names (-s)

Numbers 1 to 10 (en, två, tre...)

Numbers 11 to 20 (elva till tjugo)

Counting by tens to 100 (trettio, fyrtio...)

Days of the week (måndag, tisdag...)

Months of the year (januari, februari...)

Ordinal numbers 1st to 10th (första, andra...)

Greetings and politeness (hej, tack, förlåt)

Particle verbs of direction (gå ut, komma in)

Simple past: Group 1 (-ade)

Simple past: Group 2a (-de)

Simple past: Group 2b (-te)

Simple past: Group 3 (-dde)

Simple past: Group 4

Present perfect: Groups 1 and 2 (har)

Present perfect: Groups 3 and 4

Past perfect (hade)

Future predictions (kommer att)

Future with present tense

The adjective small (liten, litet, små)

Demonstratives of distance (den där, det där, de där)

Negative pronouns (ingen, inget, inga)

Universal pronouns (all, allt, alla)

The generic pronoun (man, en)

Possessive generic pronoun (ens)

Reciprocal pronoun (varandra)

Qualitative pronouns (sådan, sådant, sådana)

Habitual time expressions (på)

Specific past time expressions (i)

Past time expressions (för ... sedan)

Future time expressions (om)

Location and motion adverbs (här/hit, där/dit)

Consequences (så)

Correlative conjunctions (både ... och)

Either and neither (antingen ... eller, varken ... eller)

Verbs of opinion and belief (tycker, tror, tänker)

Subordinate clauses (att, om)

Time clauses (när, innan, medan)

Clauses of cause (eftersom, därför att)

Negation in subordinate clauses (inte)

V2 word order inversion

Relative clauses as subjects (som)

Relative clauses as objects (som)

Relative clauses for places (där)

Adverbs from adjectives (-t)

Adjective comparative and superlative (-are, -ast)

Question	Answer
to master	mästra
to require	kräva
To master a language requires time.	Att mästra ett språk kräver tid.
regularly	regelbundet
the energy	energin
To practice regularly takes a lot of energy.	Att öva regelbundet tar mycket energi.
the discipline	disciplinen
To get up early requires discipline.	Att stiga upp tidigt kräver disciplin.
to fail	misslyckas
To fail should not bother you.	Att misslyckas borde inte störa dig.
the effort (exertion, strain)	ansträngningen
To build a house requires great effort.	Att bygga ett hus kräver stor ansträngning.
To learn something new takes half of your energy.	Att lära sig något nytt tar hälften av din energi.
daily	dagligen
To work daily is a greater effort than you think.	Att arbeta dagligen är en större ansträngning än du tror.
the talent	talangen
To only rely on talent rarely works.	Att bara lita på talang fungerar sällan.
the commitment	engagemanget
To promise something requires commitment.	Att lova något kräver engagemang.
To win the competition requires the greatest commitment.	Att vinna tävlingen kräver störst engagemang.
To master an instrument requires more than just talent.	Att mästra ett instrument kräver mer än bara talang.
To practice daily builds up your discipline.	Att träna dagligen bygger upp din disciplin.
To fail once does not mean the end.	Att misslyckas en gång betyder inte slutet.
To practice regularly requires discipline.	Att öva regelbundet kräver disciplin.