Breakdown of Vi sorterar metallen innan vi åker för att återvinna den.
vi
we
den
it (common)
att
to (before a verb)
åka
to go, to travel, to leave
innan
before
för
for, to
sortera
to sort
återvinna
to recycle
metallen
the metal
Questions & Answers about Vi sorterar metallen innan vi åker för att återvinna den.
Why does this sentence use för att återvinna instead of just att återvinna?
För att translates to "in order to". Whenever you want to express the purpose or reason for doing an action (like why we are going), you use för att followed by the infinitive verb. If you just used att, the Swedish sentence would be grammatically incomplete.
Why use åker for "go" instead of går?
In Swedish, åker is used when you are traveling by a vehicle (like a car, bus, or bike). Går specifically means walking on foot. Since you are hauling metal to a recycling center, you are almost certainly driving, making åker the natural choice!
Why does the sentence end with den to say "it" instead of det?
The word "it" refers back to the metal, metallen. Because metall is an en-word (en metall), you must use den as the pronoun for "it". You only use det when referring back to an ett-word.
Could I use före instead of innan for "before" here?
It is much better to use innan here. Innan is used before a mini-sentence that has its own subject and verb (like vi åker). Före is typically used directly before a noun, like före frukost (before breakfast).
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