Breakdown of Grannen håller på att borra och jag kan inte koncentrera mig.
jag
I
och
and
inte
not
kunna
to be able to, can
grannen
the neighbor
hålla på att
to be doing (progressive)
borra
to drill
koncentrera sig
to concentrate
Questions & Answers about Grannen håller på att borra och jag kan inte koncentrera mig.
Why does the sentence use håller på att borra instead of just borrar?
In Swedish, borrar usually means both "drills" and "is drilling". However, when you want to strongly emphasize that an action is happening right now and is ongoing (like an annoying noise!), you use the phrase håller på att followed by the main verb.
Why is it borra and not borrar after håller på att?
Att is the infinitive marker in Swedish, just like "to" in English. Whenever you use håller på att to show ongoing action, the main verb that follows must be in its infinitive (dictionary) form, which is borra.
Why is there a mig at the end of the sentence?
In Swedish, the verb for "concentrate" is reflexive, meaning you literally have to "concentrate yourself". Since the subject is jag (I), you must use the reflexive pronoun mig. If the subject were "he", it would be han kan inte koncentrera sig.
Why does inte come between kan and koncentrera?
In a standard Swedish sentence, the first verb always takes the second position. Here, the helper verb kan (can) comes right after jag. The negative word inte (not) normally goes immediately after this first verb, which pushes the main verb koncentrera further back in the sentence.
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