When gossiping at a high school reunion, you often want to emphasize exactly who or what you are talking about before diving into the juicy details. In Swedish, you can do this using a structure called left-dislocation (or topic fronting).
To use it, state the topic at the very beginning of the sentence, add a pause (written as a comma), and then start the main sentence using a pronoun that points back to the topic.
If your topic is a thing, remember to match its gender. Use den for en-words.
| The reunion, it was actually quite fun. | Återträffen, den var faktiskt ganska rolig. |
Fronting People
If your topic is a person, use the subject pronouns hon (she) or han (he) to resume the sentence.
| Anna, she always used to brag. | Anna, hon brukade alltid skryta. |
| The nerd, he is very successful today. | Nörden, han är väldigt framgångsrik idag. |
Fronting the Object
You can also front a topic that is the object of the sentence. When you do this, the resumptive pronoun must be in its object form, such as dem for plural nouns.
Because this pronoun acts as the first element in the main clause, the verb must immediately follow it to satisfy the Swedish V2 (verb-second) rule.
| The wrinkles, she tries to hide them. | Rynkorna, dem försöker hon dölja. |
Ett-words and Entire Phrases
For ett-words, use the pronoun det.
| The hairline, it has disappeared completely. | Hårfästet, det har försvunnit helt. |
This structure isn't just for nouns! You can front an entire action or concept (like an infinitive phrase), resuming it with det.
| Being single, it can be wonderful. | Att vara singel, det kan vara underbart. |