Breakdown of Man kan bara öppna bilen inifrån.
bilen
the car
kunna
to be able to, can
öppna
to open
bara
only, just
Questions & Answers about Man kan bara öppna bilen inifrån.
How does the word inifrån work here compared to saying 'from the inside'?
inifrån is a compound adverb made of in (in) and ifrån (from). Instead of translating the English phrase word-for-word (which would be something like 'från insidan'), Swedish naturally combines the location and the origin into a single word to mean 'from the inside'.
What is the exact opposite of inifrån if I wanted to say 'from the outside'?
You would use utifrån, which is built the exact same way using ut (out) and ifrån (from). Swedish pairs these directional adverbs systematically.
Why does bara come right after kan instead of before it?
bara (only) is a sentence adverb. In a standard Swedish main clause, sentence adverbs must be placed immediately after the first conjugated verb (the verb with a tense). Here, that first verb is the helper verb kan, so bara goes right after it, separating it from the main verb öppna.
Why use man instead of du if the English meaning is usually 'You can only open the car...'?
man is the general pronoun 'one'. Swedish strongly prefers man for general facts that apply to anyone. If you used du here, a Swedish speaker might think you are talking specifically about their personal ability to open the car, rather than how the car's doors generally work.