Breakdown of Hon sätter barnet i fåtöljen när hon städar.
barnet
the child
hon
she
städa
to clean
i
in
när
when
fåtöljen
the armchair
sätta
to put, to place
Questions & Answers about Hon sätter barnet i fåtöljen när hon städar.
Why does the sentence use sätter instead of sitter?
This is a classic transitive vs. intransitive verb pair. Sätter is transitive, meaning it requires a direct object—you have to put something somewhere. Here, she is placing barnet (the child). If the child were just resting in the chair on their own, you would use the intransitive verb sitter: Barnet sitter i fåtöljen (The child is sitting in the armchair).
How do I know whether to use sätter, lägger, or ställer when translating the English word "put"?
In Swedish, you choose the verb based on the physical position the object will end up in. You use sätter here because she is placing the child in a seated position. If she were putting a sleeping infant down flat, you would use lägger (to lay). If she were placing a toddler upright on their feet, you would use ställer (to stand).
Does i fåtöljen mean "in the armchair" or "into the armchair"?
It translates best to "into the armchair" in this context because an action is happening. However, the Swedish preposition i doesn't change forms to show direction the way pairs like in / in i (in / into) or uppe / upp (up here / upwards) do. The sense of movement into the chair comes entirely from the action verb sätter.
Why isn't it translated as när hon är städar since the English says "when she is cleaning"?
This is a good reminder that Swedish doesn't use the "to be" + verb structure to show ongoing actions like English does with "-ing" words. The simple present tense städar covers both "cleans" and "is cleaning".
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