The deponent verb "låtsas"
Some Swedish verbs always end in -s but have an active meaning rather than a passive one. These are called deponent verbs. A very common one is låtsas, which means "to pretend." Because its base form already ends in -s, the present tense is simply låtsas.
Låtsas with a bare infinitive
When you pretend to do or to be something, English uses the infinitive marker "to." Swedish, however, pairs låtsas directly with a bare infinitive. This means you must completely drop the Swedish infinitive marker att.
| The con artist pretends to be a wealthy millionaire. | Bedragaren låtsas vara en rik miljonär. |
| You don't need to pretend to be gullible to play along. | Du behöver inte låtsas vara godtrogen för att spela med. |
Notice how it is låtsas vara, never låtsas att vara.
Låtsas with an "att"-clause
If you want to pretend that an entire statement or situation is true, you use an att-clause (a subordinate clause starting with att). This functions exactly like "pretends that" in English.
| The swindler pretends that he is incredibly rich. | Svindlaren låtsas att han är hur rik som helst. |
| The con artist pretends that he can convince anyone. | Bedragaren låtsas att han kan övertyga vem som helst. |
Seeing through the scam
To talk about a con artist (en bedragare) or a swindler (en svindlare), you will need vocabulary to describe deception.
Key verbs include:
- genomskåda (to see through)
- övertyga (to convince)
- charmera (to charm)
- komma undan (to get away)
Let's see these in action alongside adjectives like godtrogen (gullible) and trovärdig (credible).
| A gullible person can rarely see through the scam. | En godtrogen person kan sällan genomskåda bluffen. |
| The lie is indeed credible, but the con artist cannot convince me. | Lögnen är visserligen trovärdig, men bedragaren kan inte övertyga mig. |
| In order to get away, the swindler usually charms the victim. | För att komma undan brukar svindlaren charmera offret. |