Breakdown of Vi kan vandra tills mörkret kommer.
vi
we
kunna
to be able to, can
komma
to come
vandra
to hike
tills
until
mörkret
the darkness
Questions & Answers about Vi kan vandra tills mörkret kommer.
Can I just use till instead of tills here?
No, because they have different grammatical jobs! till is a preposition used before a noun (like "to the cabin"). tills is a subordinating conjunction used before a full clause—meaning a phrase that has its own subject and verb. Since mörkret kommer (the darkness comes) is a full clause, you must use tills.
How does tills affect the word order in the second half of the sentence?
tills introduces a subordinate (dependent) clause: tills mörkret kommer. In Swedish subordinate clauses, the subject (mörkret) comes directly after the conjunction, followed by the verb (kommer). If you wanted to add a small "sentence adverb" like säkert (surely) or inte (not), remember the golden rule for subordinate clauses: the adverb goes before the verb (tills mörkret säkert kommer).
Why is the spelling mörkret instead of "mörkeret"?
The base word is ett mörker (a darkness). To make it definite ("the darkness"), you add -et. However, when an ett word ends in -el, -er, or -en, it usually drops its final e before adding the definite ending to make it easier to say. So, mörker + et becomes mörkret.
Why doesn't the verb vandra have a present tense -r on the end?
Because it comes right after the helping (modal) verb kan (can). Just like in English ("can hike", not "can hikes"), Swedish modal verbs are followed directly by the infinitive form of the main verb. The infinitive is the base dictionary form, which almost always ends in -a (vandra).
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