Breakdown of Jag går inte till teatern, utan hem.
jag
I
inte
not
gå
to go, to walk
hem
home
till
to (direction, destination)
utan
but rather
teatern
the theater
Questions & Answers about Jag går inte till teatern, utan hem.
Why does this sentence use utan instead of men to mean "but"?
In Swedish, utan is used instead of men when you are correcting a negative statement. Because the first half says you are not doing something (inte till teatern), you use utan to introduce what you are doing instead ("but rather"). If the first half was a positive statement, you would use men.
Do I always need a negative word like inte before I can use utan?
Yes! When used as a conjunction linking two ideas, utan means "but instead", so it requires a negative word like inte (not) or aldrig (never) in the first part of the sentence to set up the contrast.
Why does the sentence end with just hem instead of saying utan jag går hem?
Just like in English, you can drop the repeated subject and verb so the sentence flows better. Since jag går (I am going) applies to both halves of the sentence, you only need to state the new destination (hem) after utan.
Why is the word for home hem here instead of hemma?
Swedish has two different words for home depending on whether there is movement. You use hemma when you are stationary at a location (I am at home), but you must use hem when you are traveling toward that destination. Because the verb går (go or walk) shows movement to a place, you use hem.
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