Word
Jag undrar om man kan leva utan att sova.
Meaning
I wonder if you can live without sleeping.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Jag undrar om man kan leva utan att sova.
jag
I
sova
to sleep
kunna
to be able to, can
man
one, you (people in general)
Questions & Answers about Jag undrar om man kan leva utan att sova.
Why is it utan att sova instead of just utan sova or an "-ing" form?
When a preposition like utan (without) or genom (by/through) is followed by a verb, Swedish uses an infinitive clause with att. While English uses the "-ing" form ("without sleeping"), Swedish literally says "without to sleep": utan att sova. You cannot drop the att here.
Why are there two infinitives (leva and sova) in this sentence?
They are in the infinitive form for two different reasons. leva (live) is an infinitive because it immediately follows the modal verb kan (can). sova (sleep) is an infinitive because it is part of the utan att (without doing) construction.
Why does the English translation say "you" when the Swedish sentence uses man?
man is a generic pronoun, similar to the formal English "one". While English speakers naturally use a generic "you" to talk about people in general, Swedish uses man to make it clear you aren't talking specifically to the person you are addressing (du).
Does om mean "if" or "whether" here?