Breakdown of Vi fixar spiken och skruven själva.
vi
we
och
and
fixa
to fix
själva
ourselves / yourselves / themselves (emphatic)
skruven
the screw
spiken
the nail
Questions & Answers about Vi fixar spiken och skruven själva.
Why is the word for ourselves själva instead of just själv?
Själv changes to match the subject it refers to. Because the subject is vi (we), which is plural, you must use the plural form själva. If the sentence was about one person, like 'I fix it myself,' you would use the singular: Jag fixar det själv.
Does fixar only mean 'to repair' like it does in English?
No, it is actually much broader! While fixar can mean 'repair,' Swedes use it all the time to mean 'arrange,' 'sort out,' or 'take care of.' In this sentence, they probably aren't repairing the nail and screw, but rather getting them or sorting them out for a project.
Why do spik and skruv both end in -en here?
That is the definite article ('the'). In Swedish, instead of putting a separate word for 'the' in front of the noun, you add an ending. Since both spik (nail) and skruv (screw) are 'en-words,' they take the -en ending to become spiken (the nail) and skruven (the screw).
Can I put själva right after the verb, like 'Vi fixar själva spiken'?
If you say Vi fixar själva spiken, it changes the meaning to 'We fix the nail itself.' When you want to say that you are doing an action by yourselves, the emphatic pronoun själv or själva usually goes at the end of the sentence.
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