Breakdown of Du måste lova att jag kan lita på dig.
jag
I
du
you (singular)
kunna
to be able to, can
måste
to have to, must
dig
you (singular)
att
that
lita på
to trust
lova
to promise
Questions & Answers about Du måste lova att jag kan lita på dig.
Why is there a på after lita? Doesn't lita just mean "trust"?
In Swedish, the verb for "to trust" is actually the two-word phrase lita på (literally "rely on"). You cannot just say lita dig; it must always be lita på dig.
How would I use the reciprocal pronoun varandra (each other) with this verb?
To say "trust each other", you simply replace the object pronoun with varandra. For example, if the subjects were "we", the sentence would be: Vi måste lova att vi kan lita på varandra (We must promise that we can trust each other).
Why isn't there an att (to) before lova?
Because måste (must) is a modal verb, just like kan (can). In Swedish, you never use att immediately after a modal verb. You just pair it directly with the base form of the next verb, making it måste lova.
Since att jag kan lita på dig is a subordinate clause, why doesn't the word order look any different from a normal sentence?
Because it starts directly with the subject (jag) followed by the verb (kan), it looks exactly like a main clause. The special word order rule for subordinate clauses only becomes obvious if you add a word like inte (not). In that case, inte must go before the verb: att jag inte kan lita på dig.
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