Breakdown of Du kan inte öka farten utan att riskera en olycka.
du
you (singular)
en
a, an (common)
inte
not
kunna
to be able to, can
olyckan
the accident
utan att
without
öka
to increase
farten
the speed
riskera
to risk
Questions & Answers about Du kan inte öka farten utan att riskera en olycka.
Why does the Swedish sentence use 'utan att riskera' instead of an '-ing' word like in the English 'without risking'?
In English, we use an '-ing' verb after a preposition, like 'without risking'. Swedish handles this differently. After prepositions like utan (without) or genom (by), you must use att followed by the infinitive form of the verb. This is why it becomes utan att riskera.
Why is it 'farten' (the speed) rather than just 'fart' or 'din fart' (your speed)?
Swedish often uses the definite form, farten, where English might just say 'increase speed' or 'increase your speed'. When talking about something clearly implied by the context, like the speed of the vehicle you are in, Swedish naturally defaults to the definite form.
Why is 'öka' (increase) in the infinitive form here?
It follows the modal verb kan (can). Just like in English, Swedish modal verbs are followed directly by the infinitive form of the main verb, without an att in between. Therefore, we use öka rather than the present tense ökar.
If I wanted to say 'by risking' instead of 'without risking', how would I change this sentence?
You would simply swap utan for genom (by). The grammatical rule stays exactly the same: genom att riskera en olycka translates to 'by risking an accident'.
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