Breakdown of Man vill inte att någon ska röra ens saker.
inte
not
vilja
to want to
ska
will
saken
the thing
någon
someone / any (en-word)
man
one, you (people in general)
att
that
ens
one's
röra
to touch
Questions & Answers about Man vill inte att någon ska röra ens saker.
Why do we use ens here instead of sina?
Ens means "one's" and is the possessive form of man (one). We don't use sina here because reflexive pronouns like sina always refer back to the subject of their own clause. The subject doing the touching is någon (anyone), not man. Since the things belong to man and not to någon, we have to use ens to point back to the person who doesn't want their things touched.
The English translation says "want anyone to touch", but Swedish says att någon ska röra. Why?
In English, you can use the pattern "want [someone] to [do something]". Swedish doesn't allow this structure. Instead, you have to create a new mini-sentence starting with att (that). Literally, the Swedish structure is "One does not want that anyone shall touch one's things."
Doesn't någon usually mean "someone"? Why does it translate to "anyone" here?
Swedish uses någon for both "someone" and "anyone". Because this sentence expresses a negative idea (established by inte in the main clause), English grammar requires "anyone", but Swedish simply sticks with någon.
I remember learning that röra means "to stir". Does it also mean "to touch"?
Yes, röra is a very versatile verb! Depending on the context, it can mean "to touch" (like in this sentence), "to stir" (like stirring a pot of soup), or "to move".
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