Breakdown of ”Kan du hjälpa mig?” ”Självklart kan jag det!”
jag
I
du
you (singular)
det
it (neuter)
hjälpa
to help
kunna
to be able to, can
mig
me
självklart
of course (obviously, naturally)
Questions & Answers about ”Kan du hjälpa mig?” ”Självklart kan jag det!”
Why is the word det at the end of the answer?
In Swedish, you can't usually leave a helper verb like kan hanging at the end of a sentence like we do in English with "Of course I can!". You need a placeholder to represent the action you are talking about. Here, det stands in for "help you", making the literal translation "Of course can I that!"
Why is it kan jag instead of jag kan in the second sentence?
Why doesn't hjälpa have an -r at the end here?
Hjälpa is in the infinitive (dictionary) form because it comes directly after the helper verb kan. Whenever you use helper verbs like kan, vill, or ska, the main verb that follows it drops the present tense -r ending.
Is mig pronounced the way it is spelled?
No, even though it is spelled mig, it is almost always pronounced as "mej" in everyday spoken Swedish.
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