Breakdown of Örnen ser katten smyga i gräset.
katten
the cat
i
in
se
to see
gräset
the grass
smyga
to sneak
örnen
the eagle
Questions & Answers about Örnen ser katten smyga i gräset.
Why is there no att before smyga?
This is the main rule for verbs of perception like se (to see), höra (to hear), and känna (to feel). When you observe someone or something doing an action, you use the object (katten) followed immediately by the bare infinitive (smyga) without att. English works exactly the same way here: we say 'sees the cat sneak', not 'sees the cat to sneak'.
How do I translate this if I want to say the cat 'is sneaking'?
Swedish doesn't have a direct equivalent to the English '-ing' continuous tense. The bare infinitive smyga handles both 'sneak' and 'sneaking' in this grammatical structure. So if you wanted to say 'The eagle sees the cat sneaking', you would translate it exactly the same way: Örnen ser katten smyga.
What happens to the word order if I start the sentence with the location, I gräset?
Swedish strictly follows the V2 rule, meaning the main verb must be the second piece of information in the sentence. If you move the phrase I gräset to the front, the verb ser must swap places with the subject örnen. The sentence would become: I gräset ser örnen katten smyga.
Learn Örnen ser katten smyga i gräset and more in Swedish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free