Breakdown of Mannen hänger jackan bakom dörren.
mannen
the man
dörren
the door
jackan
the jacket
bakom
behind
hänga
to hang
Questions & Answers about Mannen hänger jackan bakom dörren.
Does the preposition bakom change because he is actively moving the jacket to its place, rather than it just resting there?
No, it stays exactly the same. You might remember that some Swedish location words change depending on whether there is motion (like in vs inne). However, extended spatial prepositions like bakom (behind), framför (in front of), and under (under) do not change forms based on movement.
Does Swedish use the same verb for a person hanging a coat and the coat itself hanging on a hook?
Yes, at least in the present tense! You can say mannen hänger jackan (the man is hanging the jacket) and jackan hänger bakom dörren (the jacket is hanging behind the door). The verb hänger works for both the action and the state of hanging.
I sometimes mix up the endings for 'the'. Why is it jackan but dörren?
Both are en-words, but they follow slightly different spelling patterns. Dörr ends in a consonant, so it gets the standard -en ending to become dörren (the door). Jacka ends in a vowel. For en-words ending in -a, you drop that final -a and add -an to make it jackan (the jacket).
If I wanted to emphasize the location and start the sentence with bakom dörren, what happens to the word order?
You must use the V2 rule, which means the verb is always the second block of information in a standard sentence. If you start with the location, the verb hänger must come immediately after it, followed by the subject: Bakom dörren hänger mannen jackan.
Learn Mannen hänger jackan bakom dörren and more in Swedish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free