Breakdown of Han går till kassan, men jag har kortet.
jag
I
han
he
ha
to have
gå
to go, to walk
till
to (direction, destination)
men
but
kassan
the checkout
kortet
the card
Questions & Answers about Han går till kassan, men jag har kortet.
Since this lesson is about demonstratives like 'den här' and 'det här', why aren't they used in this sentence?
The English translation says 'the card', not 'this card'. To simply say 'the card', you just use the definite form of the noun, which is kortet. If you wanted to specify 'this card', you would use the demonstrative det här plus the definite noun, making it det här kortet.
Why does kassan end in -n but kortet ends in -t?
In Swedish, the word for 'the' attaches to the end of the noun. Kassa (checkout) is an en-word, so it takes an -n to become kassan (the checkout). Kort (card) is an ett-word, so it takes an -et to become kortet (the card).
The translation says 'He is going', but shouldn't there be a word for 'is'?
Swedish doesn't have an exact equivalent to the English 'is doing' or 'are doing' structure. The present tense verb går translates to both 'goes' and 'is going'. Adding är (is) before går is a common mistake for English speakers, but it is grammatically incorrect in Swedish.
Why is the word order jag har after the comma? Doesn't the verb have to come first after a comma?
You are thinking of the V2 rule, where the verb must be the second idea in a sentence! The word men (but) is a conjunction that simply glues two complete sentences together. It acts like a reset button. The new clause starts with jag (position 1), so the verb har is correctly in position 2.
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