Questions & Answers about Jag dricker mitt kaffe nu.
Why is it mitt instead of min for 'my'?
Possessive pronouns in Swedish change depending on the gender of the noun they belong to. Because kaffe is an ett-word (ett kaffe), you must use the ett-word form of 'my', which is mitt. If you were talking about an en-word, like en bil (a car), you would use min bil.
Why is dricker translated as 'am drinking'? Is there a separate word for 'am'?
No, Swedish does not have a separate continuous tense like English does with 'am drinking' or 'is eating'. The present tense verb dricker translates to both 'drink' and 'am drinking'. The word nu (now) makes it clear that it is happening right at this moment.
Since I am talking about my specific coffee, shouldn't kaffe be in the definite form (kaffet)?
It feels like it should be, but Swedish has a strict rule: after a possessive pronoun like mitt, the noun always stays in the indefinite (basic) form. So it is always mitt kaffe, never mitt kaffet.
What happens to the word order if I start the sentence with Nu?
If you move Nu to the front to emphasize 'now', you have to follow the Swedish V2 rule. This rule says the verb must be the second piece of information. The verb dricker stays in position two, and the subject jag moves after it: Nu dricker jag mitt kaffe.
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