Breakdown of Presidenten ser sig omkring, men ser inte hotet.
inte
not
se
to see
sig
oneself / himself / herself / themselves
men
but
Questions & Answers about Presidenten ser sig omkring, men ser inte hotet.
Why do we use the reflexive pronoun sig in ser sig omkring?
In Swedish, the standard expression for 'to look around' is se sig omkring (literally to see oneself around). Because the subject Presidenten is in the third person, the reflexive pronoun must be sig. If the sentence were about you, it would be Du ser dig omkring.
Could I use tittar instead of ser for the first verb?
Yes, you can absolutely say tittar sig omkring. Both verbs are commonly used with this reflexive phrase. However, in the second half of the sentence, you must use ser because it means to perceive or see the threat, whereas tittar strictly implies the active physical action of looking.
Why is there no subject in the second clause after men?
When two main clauses are connected by a conjunction like men (but) or och (and), and they share the exact same subject, you can drop the subject in the second clause. You could say men hen ser inte hotet, but leaving the subject out sounds more natural and less repetitive.
Why does inte come after the verb ser here?
Even with the subject dropped, the second half is still treated as a main clause following standard Swedish word order. The verb comes in the V2 position right after the conjunction, and the negation inte must immediately follow that finite verb.