Questions & Answers about Ingen får snoka i ens dagbok.
What exactly is ens, and where does it come from?
ens translates to "one's". It is the possessive form of the generic pronoun man (which means "one" or "people in general"). Just as jag (I) changes to min (my) to show ownership, man (one) changes to ens (one's).
Why is the noun just dagbok instead of the definite form dagboken?
In Swedish, whenever you use a possessive word to show ownership, the noun that follows must be in its indefinite (basic) form. Because we used the possessive ens (one's), it has to be ens dagbok, exactly like you would say min dagbok (my diary).
Doesn't the verb får usually mean "gets"? Why does it mean "is allowed to" here?
The verb få does mean "to get" or "to receive" when it stands alone with a noun. However, when it is used as a helper verb right before another verb (like snoka in this sentence), its meaning changes to "may" or "to be allowed to".
Since the translation is "allowed to snoop", why is there no att (to) before snoka?
Because får acts as a modal (helper) verb here. In Swedish, modal verbs are followed directly by the infinitive form of the next verb without using att. Think of it like the English word "may"—you would say "Nobody may snoop" without "to".