Breakdown of Han borde inte ha armbågarna på det fina bordet.
han
he
fin
nice
bordet
the table
inte
not
ha
to have
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
det
the (with ett-words)
böra
should, ought to
armbågen
the elbow
Questions & Answers about Han borde inte ha armbågarna på det fina bordet.
Why do we use ha instead of har after borde?
borde is a modal verb meaning "should" or "ought to". Just like in English, it is followed by the base form of the next verb (the bare infinitive). So we use ha (to have) instead of the present tense har.
The translation says "his elbows", but I don't see the word for "his" here. Why?
The Swedish word here is armbågarna, which means "the elbows". When talking about body parts, Swedish usually uses the definite form ("the elbows") instead of a possessive word like hans or sina if it is already obvious whose body parts they are.
Why is inte placed right after borde instead of before it?
Doesn't bordet already mean "the table"? Why is there a det before fina?
Yes, bordet means "the table". However, when you add an adjective like fina (nice) to a definite noun, Swedish uses something called "double definiteness". You must add the separate article det before the adjective, while still keeping the definite ending on the noun.
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