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De simmar ofta i havet.

De simmar ofta i havet.
They often swim in the sea.
From Lesson 17:Adverbs of frequency (ibland, aldrig)·Swedish

Breakdown of De simmar ofta i havet.

de
they
ofta
often
i
in
simma
to swim
havet
the sea

Questions & Answers about De simmar ofta i havet.

Why does ofta come after simmar? In English, we say "often swim".
In Swedish main clauses, adverbs of frequency like ofta (often), aldrig (never), and ibland (sometimes) usually come directly after the verb. So instead of saying "They often swim," Swedish says "They swim often" (De simmar ofta).
How is the word De pronounced in this sentence?
Even though it is spelled De, it is almost always pronounced like dom in everyday spoken Swedish.
Why does the word havet end in "-et"?
Hav (sea) is an "ett" word (ett hav). In Swedish, you create the "the" form by attaching the article to the end of the noun. So, to say "the sea", you attach "et" to the end, making it havet.
If I want to emphasize that they do it often by starting the sentence with Ofta, how does it change?
If you put Ofta at the beginning, the verb must still be the second piece of information in the sentence because of the Swedish V2 rule. You would swap the subject and the verb to get: Ofta simmar de i havet.

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