Breakdown of Att lova något kräver engagemang.
att
to
något
something / any (ett-word)
lova
to promise
kräva
to require
Questions & Answers about Att lova något kräver engagemang.
Why does the verb kräver come so late in the sentence if Swedish is a V2 (verb-second) language?
The V2 rule means the verb comes in the second position or block of information, not necessarily as the second single word. Here, the entire infinitive clause Att lova något (To promise something) acts as a single block: the subject. Therefore, kräver is correctly sitting right where it should be, in position 2.
In English, I'd probably say "Promising something..." rather than "To promise something...". How do I use the "-ing" form in Swedish?
Swedish doesn't have an "-ing" noun form (a gerund) like English does. Whenever you want to use an action as the subject of a sentence, you almost always use the infinitive with att. So, both "To promise" and "Promising" translate to the infinitive clause Att lova.
Is engagemang a false friend? It looks exactly like "engagement".
Yes, it is! While it shares roots with the English word, engagemang translates to "commitment", "dedication", or "involvement" in a cause or task. If you want to talk about a romantic engagement to get married, the Swedish word is förlovning—which, funnily enough, is built directly from the verb att lova (to promise)!
How do you pronounce engagemang?
Because it is a loanword from French, it keeps a French-style pronunciation. Both "g"s are soft, sounding like the "s" in the English word "measure", and it ends with a slightly nasal "ang" sound rather than a hard "g".