Breakdown of De håller på att förälska sig i varandra.
de
they
i
in
varandra
each other
hålla på att
to be doing (progressive)
förälska sig
to fall in love
Questions & Answers about De håller på att förälska sig i varandra.
English says falling in love, but this sentence uses the reflexive förälska sig. Why?
In Swedish, many emotional shifts—where a person's state changes involuntarily—are expressed with reflexive verbs. Here, förälska sig acts as the process of acquiring that new emotion. You will often see this reflexive pattern when a new feeling takes hold, replacing the English use of get or fall.
Why use håller på att instead of just saying De förälskar sig?
The phrase håller på att combined with an infinitive verb emphasizes that an action is currently ongoing, similar to the English -ing form. While De förälskar sig can mean They fall in love, adding håller på att makes it explicitly clear that they are in the active process of falling in love right now.
The English translation says with each other, but the Swedish sentence uses the preposition i. Is that a fixed rule?
Yes, the verb förälska sig always pairs with the preposition i (in) regarding the object of affection. You cannot use med (with) here; in Swedish, you fall in love in someone.
Since the subject is the plural De, why do we use sig instead of a plural pronoun?
The reflexive pronoun sig is used for the third person in both singular (han, hon, den, det) and plural (de). Because De is third-person plural, sig is exactly the right word to reflect back to the subject.
Could I say De håller på att bli kära i varandra instead?
Yes! The phrase bli kär i (to become in love with) is a very common, slightly more everyday alternative to förälska sig i. Both describe the same involuntary emotional shift, but förälska sig sounds just a bit more poetic or literary.
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