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Pojken vill spela fotboll.

Pojken vill spela fotboll.
The boy wants to play football.
From Lesson 12:Modal verbs (kan, vill, måste, får)·Swedish

Breakdown of Pojken vill spela fotboll.

spela
to play
fotboll
football
pojken
the boy
vilja
to want to

Questions & Answers about Pojken vill spela fotboll.

Why is there no word for "to" between vill and spela?
In Swedish, modal verbs like vill (wants to) are followed directly by the infinitive form of the next verb, without using the word att (to). It is just like how we say "can play" or "must play" in English, but Swedish also does this for wanting to do something: vill spela.
Does vill mean "will"?
No, this is a very common false friend! The Swedish verb vill means "want" or "wants to". If you want to talk about the future like the English word "will", you use a different Swedish word, such as ska.
Why is it pojken instead of just pojke?
Pojke means "boy", but adding the suffix -n makes it definite, meaning "the boy". Because pojke is an en-word (a word that uses en for "a") that already ends in a vowel, we just add -n to the end to get pojken.
Can I use spela for playing other things besides sports?
Yes! You use spela for sports (spela fotboll), games (spela schack - play chess), and musical instruments (spela piano). However, if you are talking about children playing around and having fun in general, you use a different verb: leka.

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