Questions & Answers about De vill lära sig språket.
Why do we need the word sig here? Can't we just say De vill lära språket?
In Swedish, the verb lära on its own actually means "to teach". To say "to learn", you have to use the reflexive version: lära sig (literally, "to teach oneself"). Since the subject is De (they), the correct reflexive pronoun to match it is sig (themselves).
Why isn't there an att (to) before lära?
The word vill (want) is a modal verb, which is a type of "helping" verb. In Swedish, modal verbs are followed directly by the infinitive form of the next verb, without using att. So it is always vill lära (want to learn), never vill att lära.
I've noticed De is often pronounced differently than it is spelled. Is that true here?
Yes! In everyday spoken Swedish, the word De (they) is almost always pronounced like dom. You will only hear it pronounced exactly as it is spelled in very formal situations, like reading a news report.
What does the -et at the end of språket do?
It makes the word definite, meaning "the language" instead of just "a language". The noun språk is an "ett" word (ett språk = a language), so we add the -et ending to the back of the word to make it språket (the language).