Questions & Answers about Han vill spela matchen utan att öva.
Why is it translated as utan att öva when English uses the "-ing" word "practicing"?
In Swedish, you cannot put a verb directly after a preposition like utan (without). Instead, you use an infinitive clause with att. So, where English says "without practicing", Swedish literally says "without to practice" (utan att öva).
Why doesn't spela get an att in front of it?
The verb spela follows vill (wants to), which is a modal verb. In Swedish, modal verbs always take a bare infinitive without att. You only need att before öva because it is part of the utan att structure.
Can I say utan att träna instead of öva?
Yes, you can! Both öva and träna mean to practice. träna is especially common for sports and physical training, while öva focuses a bit more on repeating a specific skill or technique, but they are often interchangeable in this context.
Why does the word match end with -en here?