Breakdown of Alla såg gärningsmannen, men ingen vill vittna.
vilja
to want to
se
to see
alla
all
men
but
ingen
no, none (en-word)
gärningsmannen
the perpetrator
vittna
to testify
Questions & Answers about Alla såg gärningsmannen, men ingen vill vittna.
Since this lesson is about using words as nouns to denote people, do alla and ingen work the same way here?
Yes! Just like you can use an adjective to mean a group of people (like de unga for "the young"), you can use pronouns like alla and ingen completely on their own to mean "everyone" and "nobody". You don't need to add a word like människor (people) after them.
If alla and ingen refer to "everyone" and "nobody", how would I say "everything" and "nothing"?
You would use the neuter forms: allt (everything) and inget (nothing). When these words stand alone without a noun, the common forms (alla, ingen) refer to people, while the neuter forms refer to things.
How is the word gärningsmannen built?
It is a compound noun that literally translates to "the deed man". It combines gärning (deed or act, usually referring to a crime) with a linking -s- and mannen (the man). It is the standard Swedish legal and everyday term for "the perpetrator" or "the culprit".
Why is there no att (to) between vill and vittna?
English uses "wants to testify", which often tempts learners to use att here. However, the Swedish verb vill (wants to) functions as an auxiliary (helping) verb. In Swedish, auxiliary verbs like vill, kan, and måste are followed directly by the infinitive form of the next verb, completely dropping the att.
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