Question 1

Why is utan used here instead of men for "but"?

Accepted Answer

We use utan because the first part of the sentence is negative (inte) and the second part corrects it. While men just adds a contrasting idea, utan specifically means "but rather" or "but instead". You use it to replace or contradict a negative statement.

Question 2

Normally we don't use articles with professions in Swedish. Why do arkitekten and ingenjören have definite endings here?

Accepted Answer

You are right that we usually drop the article when stating someone's job in general (like Mannen är arkitekt). However, this sentence uses the definite endings (-en) because it talks about specific, known roles. He is not just an architect; he is the specific architect for a known project.

Question 3

Do I need to repeat the subject and verb after utan?

Accepted Answer

No, and it sounds much more natural to leave them out! Because the subject and verb (Mannen är) apply to both the negative and positive parts of the statement, you can just contrast the nouns directly: inte arkitekten, utan ingenjören.

Question 4

Is ingenjören an en-word or an ett-word?

Accepted Answer

It is an en-word. The base word is en ingenjör (an engineer). To make it definite ("the engineer"), we add the -en suffix to get ingenjören. The same pattern applies to en arkitekt, which becomes arkitekten.

Mannen är inte arkitekten, utan ingenjören.

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