Questions & Answers about Idag är det måndag och vi måste jobba.
Why does the sentence say är det instead of det är?
This happens because of the "V2 rule" in Swedish. The verb (in this case, är) almost always has to be the second piece of information in a statement. Because the time word Idag (Today) is in the first position, the verb comes second, and the subject det (it) gets pushed to the third spot.
Why is there a det (it) in the Swedish sentence when the English translation just says "Today is Monday"?
In Swedish, you usually need a subject for the verb. When talking about time, days, or weather, Swedish uses det (it) as a placeholder. It translates literally to "Today is it Monday", which sounds a bit strange in English but is perfectly natural in Swedish.
Why isn't måndag capitalized?
Unlike English, Swedish does not capitalize the names of the days of the week. The same rule applies to months, seasons, and languages!
Why do we use jobba instead of the present tense jobbar?
Because of the word måste (must/have to). The word måste is a helper verb, and in Swedish, whenever you use one of these, the main verb that follows it must be in its basic, dictionary form (the infinitive). That is why we use jobba instead of jobbar.