Breakdown of Hon säger att hon inte är spanjor, men att hon är ekonom.
vara
to be
hon
she
inte
not
men
but
säga
to say
att
that
ekonomen
the economist
spanjoren
the Spaniard
Questions & Answers about Hon säger att hon inte är spanjor, men att hon är ekonom.
Why is there no word for "a" or "an" before spanjor and ekonom?
When you state someone's profession, nationality, or religious affiliation after the verb är (to be), Swedish drops the article (en or ett). You are focusing on the category they belong to rather than identifying them as a specific individual.
Why is inte placed before är in the phrase att hon inte är?
Because att hon inte är spanjor is a subordinate clause (a dependent clause starting with att). In Swedish subordinate clauses, sentence adverbs like inte must come before the verb. This is often taught as the BIFF-rule (bisats: inte före finita verbet).
Why is att repeated after men?
Repeating att keeps the second part of the sentence firmly inside indirect speech. It clarifies that she is the one saying she is an economist. If you dropped it and just wrote men hon är ekonom, it could sound like the narrator is stepping in to state a fact about her.
Since the subject is hon (she), shouldn't the word for Spaniard be spanjorska?
You can use spanjorska for a woman, but it is extremely common in modern Swedish to use the general base form (spanjor) for any gender when stating a person's nationality or profession as a category. Both are correct, but spanjor works perfectly well here.
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