Breakdown of Hon dricker inte vinet, utan ölet.
hon
she
inte
not
dricka
to drink
vinet
the wine
utan
but rather
ölet
the beer
Questions & Answers about Hon dricker inte vinet, utan ölet.
Why do we use utan here instead of men for "but"?
In Swedish, you use utan when you are correcting a negative statement. Because the first part says she is not drinking the wine (inte vinet), we must use utan to mean "but rather" or "but instead" for the correction. If the first part didn't have inte, you would use men.
Do I have to repeat the verb after utan? Could I say utan hon dricker ölet?
You can, but it sounds repetitive. Just like in English, Swedish lets you drop the repeated subject and verb (hon dricker) after utan when they are exactly the same.
Why does this sentence use ölet instead of ölen for "the beer"?
The word for beer can actually be both an en word and an ett word! When you are talking about a specific glass or serving of beer, you use en öl (the beer = ölen). But when you are talking about the liquid or the type of drink in general, like in this sentence comparing it to wine, it acts as an ett word (the beer = ölet).
Both vinet and ölet end in -et. Does that mean they belong to the same noun group?
Yes, both vin (wine) and öl (beer, as a substance) are ett words. To make them definite (meaning "the wine" or "the beer" instead of just "wine" or "beer"), you add -et to the end of the base word.
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