Breakdown of Jag vet att filen inte är farlig.
jag
I
vara
to be
inte
not
veta
to know (facts, information)
att
that
farlig
dangerous
filen
the file
Questions & Answers about Jag vet att filen inte är farlig.
Why is inte placed before är in this sentence?
Because the second part of the sentence (att filen inte är farlig) is a subordinate clause. In Swedish, subordinate clauses follow the BIFF rule: Bisats (subordinate clause), Inte, Före (before), Finita verbet (the conjugated verb). This means sentence adverbs like inte must go before the verb, rather than after it like they do in a main clause.
How would the word order change if I just wanted to say "The file is not dangerous" as its own sentence?
As a standalone main clause, the verb must come in the second position and inte comes after it: Filen är inte farlig. This perfectly shows how the BIFF rule changes the word order when you connect the thought with att!
How can I tell from this sentence whether a file is an en-word or an ett-word?
There are two clues here that it is an en-word (en fil). First, the definite form (the file) is filen, ending in -en. Second, the adjective farlig (dangerous) stays in its base form. If it were describing an ett-word, it would need an extra -t at the end (farligt).
Is the word att pronounced exactly how it is spelled here?
Usually not! In everyday spoken Swedish, the conjunction att (meaning "that") is almost always pronounced simply as å.
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