Breakdown of Kan man läsa boken utan att gråta?
boken
the book
läsa
to read
kunna
to be able to, can
gråta
to cry
Questions & Answers about Kan man läsa boken utan att gråta?
Why does Swedish use utan att gråta instead of an "-ing" word like "crying"?
English uses prepositions with the "-ing" form (like "without crying"). Swedish doesn't have an exact equivalent for this. Instead, you use the preposition (utan), plus the infinitive marker (att), followed by the infinitive form of the verb (gråta). Literally, it reads as "without to cry".
Could I just say utan gråta and drop the att?
No, att is required here. When a preposition like utan (without) or genom (by/through) is followed by an action, Swedish grammar requires the infinitive marker att right before the verb.
Why does the sentence use man if the translation says "you"?
Man is a generic pronoun, similar to "one" in English. In English, we often use "you" to mean "people in general" or "anyone." When you mean this general "you," Swedish uses man. If you were asking if a specific person could read it without crying, you would use du.
Why is it Kan man instead of Man kan?
Because this is a yes/no question. Just like in English ("Can you...?"), Swedish moves the verb to the very front of the sentence, placing it before the subject (man) to ask a question.