Questions & Answers about Alla vill ha fred och frihet i världen.
Why don't fred and frihet have an article here?
Fred (peace) and frihet (freedom) are abstract nouns. Just like in English, when you make a general statement about an abstract concept in Swedish, you use the zero article, meaning no extra article words and no definite endings are added.
Why do we need ha after vill? Doesn't vill already mean wants?
In Swedish, vill acts as a helper verb that essentially means wants to. If you want a noun, like peace or freedom, you must use vill ha, which literally means wants to have. You only use vill without ha when it is followed by another action verb, like in Alla vill leva (Everyone wants to live).
English uses the singular wants for everyone. Is Alla singular or plural in Swedish?
Alla is grammatically plural in Swedish, functioning more like all people rather than the singular everyone. Because Swedish verbs do not change form based on the subject, vill looks the same whether the subject is singular or plural. However, if you referred back to alla later in a sentence, you would use the plural pronoun de (they).
I have also seen the word frid for peace. Why is it fred in this sentence?