Breakdown of Livvakten ser mannen med pistolen framför sig.
mannen
the man
se
to see
sig
oneself / himself / herself / themselves
med
with
framför
in front of / over (in preference to)
livvakten
the bodyguard
pistolen
the gun
Questions & Answers about Livvakten ser mannen med pistolen framför sig.
Why do we use sig here instead of honom?
In Swedish, sig is a reflexive pronoun that must be used when a spatial preposition refers back to the third-person subject of the sentence. Since the bodyguard (Livvakten) is the subject, and the man is in front of the bodyguard, we use sig. If we used honom, it would mean the man was in front of some completely different person.
What if the gun was in front of the man, not the bodyguard? Would we still use sig?
No, you would use honom in that case. The word sig strictly points back to the subject of the clause, which is the bodyguard. Because the man is the object of the sentence, using sig cannot refer to him here.
Can I use sig with prepositions other than framför?
Yes! The reflexive pronoun sig works with almost all spatial prepositions as long as it refers back to the subject. You will often see phrases like bakom sig (behind him/her/them), med sig (with him/her/them), or bredvid sig (next to him/her/them).
How is the word livvakten formed?
It is a compound noun made of liv (life) and vakten (the guard). So a bodyguard in Swedish is literally a life guard!
Learn Livvakten ser mannen med pistolen framför sig 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