Breakdown of Läkaren säger att du måste ta medicinen två gånger om dagen.
du
you (singular)
måste
to have to, must
ta
to take
dagen
the day
läkaren
the doctor
två
two
säga
to say
att
that
gången
the time (occurrence)
om
per, a (frequency)
medicinen
the medicine
Questions & Answers about Läkaren säger att du måste ta medicinen två gånger om dagen.
Why does it say om dagen instead of i dagen for "a day"?
Swedish splits time periods into two groups for frequency. We use om for days and years (om dagen, om året), as well as a full 24-hour period (om dygnet). We use i for weeks and months (i veckan, i månaden), plus smaller units like hours or minutes. Since this sentence is about days, we must use om.
In English we say "twice a day", so why does Swedish use the definite form dagen (the day)?
That is just how the Swedish frequency structure works! To say "per [time period]" or "a [time period]", you always use the preposition (om or i) followed by the definite form of the noun. So "a day" is om dagen and "a week" would be i veckan.
I see att du måste ta — what happens to the word order if I want to say "must not take"?
Because att (that) starts a subordinate (dependent) clause, any small sentence adverbs like inte (not) have to step in before the first verb. So "that you must not take" becomes att du inte måste ta.
Why is "the doctor" läkaren and not läkareen?
Läkare (doctor) is an "en" word that already ends in a vowel, specifically the -are ending used for many professions. Instead of adding a full -en and getting a clunky double vowel, you just add an -n to make it definite: läkaren.
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