Breakdown of Mannen tror hon vill lura polisen.
hon
she
mannen
the man
tro
to believe
vilja
to want to
polisen
the police officer
lura
deceive
Questions & Answers about Mannen tror hon vill lura polisen.
Where is the word att (that) in this sentence?
It has been left out! Just like in English, where you can say 'The man thinks she wants...' instead of 'thinks that she wants...', Swedish often drops the conjunction att when it introduces an object clause. This is very common in everyday language. The full sentence would be Mannen tror att hon vill lura polisen.
Why isn't there an att before lura? Is that also part of this lesson's rule?
No, that happens for a different reason. The verb vill (wants to) is an auxiliary (helper) verb in Swedish. Auxiliary verbs are always followed directly by a bare infinitive, so you never use the infinitive marker att (to) between vill and lura.
Why is the verb tror used here for 'thinks' instead of tycker or tänker?
You use tror when you are guessing or expressing a belief about a fact that you are not entirely sure about. If he were expressing a subjective opinion, he would use tycker, and if he were actively using his brain to ponder something, he would use tänker.
Why does polisen look singular here when 'the police' is plural in English?
In Swedish, polisen is a singular noun. It can mean either the entire police force as a single institution or one specific individual police officer. While English treats 'the police' as a plural group, Swedish treats it grammatically as a single unit.
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