Breakdown of Trucken är där, och vi vill gå dit.
vara
to be
vi
we
och
and
där
there
gå
to go, to walk
vilja
to want to
trucken
the forklift
dit
there (direction)
Questions & Answers about Trucken är där, och vi vill gå dit.
Why does this sentence use both där and dit to mean 'there'?
Swedish uses different adverbs depending on whether there is movement to a destination. Där is positional, used when something is stationary in a place (the forklift is there: är där). Dit is directional, used with verbs of motion when you are moving toward a place (we want to go there: gå dit). Think of dit as 'to there'.
Why is the verb gå in its infinitive form instead of the present tense går?
Because it comes right after vill (want). Vill is a modal verb, and in Swedish, modal verbs are followed directly by the infinitive (base form) of the main verb, without using an equivalent to the English word 'to'. So, vi vill gå translates perfectly to 'we want to go'.
Is trucken a false friend here?
Yes! While it looks like the English word 'truck', in Swedish en truck almost always means a forklift. If you want to talk about a large truck or lorry for transporting goods on the road, you would use the word en lastbil. The -en at the end makes it definite: trucken means 'the forklift'.
How would the adverbs change if we were talking about 'here' instead of 'there'?
You would use the positional and directional pair for 'here', which is här and hit. The sentence would be: Trucken är här, och vi vill gå hit (The forklift is here, and we want to go here).
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