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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.

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### Fronting People

If your topic is a person, use the subject pronouns **hon** (she) or **han** (he) to resume the sentence.

{{item:926031}}

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### 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.

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### *Ett*-words and Entire Phrases

For *ett*-words, use the pronoun **det**.

{{item:926038}}

This structure isn't just for nouns! You can front an entire action or concept (like an infinitive phrase), resuming it with **det**.

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Topic fronting (Left-dislocation)

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
the reunion	återträffen
The reunion, it was actually quite fun.	Återträffen, den var faktiskt ganska rolig.
dorky	töntig
the attitude	attityden
What a dorky attitude!	Vilken töntig attityd!
to brag	skryta
Anna, she always used to brag.	Anna, hon brukade alltid skryta.
the nerd	nörden
successful	framgångsrik
The nerd, he is very successful today.	Nörden, han är väldigt framgångsrik idag.
the wrinkle	rynkan
The wrinkles, she tries to hide them.	Rynkorna, dem försöker hon dölja.
the hairline	hårfästet
The hairline, it has disappeared completely.	Hårfästet, det har försvunnit helt.
to flirt	flirta
He used to flirt with everyone.	Han brukade flirta med alla.
single	singel
Lars, he is successful but still single.	Lars, han är framgångsrik men fortfarande singel.
That nerd was quite dorky at the reunion.	Den där nörden var ganska töntig på återträffen.
The attitude, it used to be so bad.	Attityden, den brukade vara så dålig.
His wife, she just wanted to brag.	Hans fru, hon ville bara skryta.
The hairline and the wrinkles, nobody wants to talk about them.	Hårfästet och rynkorna, dem vill ingen prata om.
Johan, he tried to flirt with me!	Johan, han försökte flirta med mig!
Being single, it can be wonderful.	Att vara singel, det kan vara underbart.