Breakdown of Eftersom kvinnan inte tål laktos, beställer hon vatten istället.
hon
she
inte
not
vattnet
the water
kvinnan
the woman
Questions & Answers about Eftersom kvinnan inte tål laktos, beställer hon vatten istället.
Why does inte come before the verb tål in the first part of the sentence?
This follows the BIFF rule for subordinate clauses! The word eftersom (since) starts a subordinate clause. In Swedish, there is a special rule that says in these clauses, sentence adverbs like inte, alltid, or kanske must come before the verb. So we write ... kvinnan inte tål ... instead of ... kvinnan tål inte ....
Why is the second half written as beställer hon instead of hon beställer?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire subordinate clause (Eftersom kvinnan inte tål laktos) counts as the first block of information in the sentence. To keep the main verb in the second position, beställer has to come next, immediately followed by the subject hon.
Could I start this sentence with därför att (because) instead of eftersom?
Grammatically yes, but it sounds much more natural to use eftersom here. Eftersom is typically used when the reason is placed at the very beginning of the sentence to give background information (like "Since..." in English). Därför att is usually placed in the middle of a sentence to directly answer a "why" question.
What is the infinitive form of the verb tål?