Breakdown of Han ljög för polisen i julas.
han
he
i
in
för
for, to
polisen
the police officer
ljuga
to lie
julas
Christmas (used in 'i julas')
Questions & Answers about Han ljög för polisen i julas.
Why is there an -s at the end of julas?
In Swedish, when you want to talk about a specific holiday or season in the recent past, you use the preposition i and add an -s to the noun. Jul is Christmas, so i julas specifically means "last Christmas". You will also see this pattern in expressions like i somras (last summer) or i påskas (last Easter).
Why do we use för instead of till for "lied to"?
In English you lie to someone, but the Swedish expression is att ljuga för någon (literally "to lie for someone"). Swedish often uses för instead of till with verbs that involve hiding things, keeping secrets, or giving false information to another person.
Ljög is in the past tense. What is the infinitive (to-form) of this verb?
The infinitive is att ljuga (to lie). It is an irregular strong verb, which means it changes its vowel completely to form the past tense. The present tense is ljuger and the past tense is ljög.
Is polisen singular or plural here?
Polisen is the definite singular form, literally meaning "the police officer" or "the police force". Just like in English, Swedish often uses the singular word polisen to refer to the police collectively. If you wanted to specifically say "the police officers" (plural), it would be poliserna.
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