Breakdown of Vi måste utreda vem som kan ha öppnat kassaskåpet.
vi
we
vem
who
ha
to have
kunna
to be able to, can
måste
to have to, must
öppna
to open
som
who / which / that (relative pronoun)
utreda
to investigate
kassaskåpet
the safe
Questions & Answers about Vi måste utreda vem som kan ha öppnat kassaskåpet.
Why is kan ha öppnat translated as "may have opened" instead of "can have opened"?
When deducing past events, Swedish uses kan ha + supinum (here, öppnat) to express a possibility, meaning you are guessing what might have happened. While English usually shifts to "may have" or "might have" for this, Swedish sticks with the present tense kan combined with ha.
Why do we need the word som after vem?
This is an indirect question. In Swedish, when a question word like vem or vad is the subject of an indirect question, you must add som. Since "who" is the one doing the action (opening the safe), it is the subject, making it vem som. If "who" were the object, you would just use vem.
Both måste and kan are modal verbs. Are they both used for deduction here?
No, they are doing two different jobs! Here, måste is used in its traditional sense of obligation ("we have to investigate"). However, kan is part of the epistemic deduction structure kan ha öppnat, expressing a theory about a past event ("someone possibly opened it").
How does the word kassaskåpet break down?
It is a compound made of kassa (cash/funds, or a checkout/cash register) and skåp (cabinet/cupboard). A "cash cabinet" logically translates to a safe! The -et at the end makes it the definite form (kassaskåpet = the safe).
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