Breakdown of Chefen låter honom planera sin arbetsdag.
honom
him
chefen
the boss
sin
his/her/its/their own (en-word)
planera
to plan
låta
to let, allow
arbetsdagen
the workday
Questions & Answers about Chefen låter honom planera sin arbetsdag.
Why use sin here? Doesn't sin usually refer to the grammatical subject, which is chefen?
This is exactly why this sentence is tricky! Normally, sin refers back to the subject of the main clause. However, when you have a verb like låta (to let) followed by an object (honom) and an infinitive (planera), that object acts as the logical subject of the infinitive clause. Because "he" is the one doing the planning, sin refers back to honom. He is planning his own workday.
What would the sentence mean if we used hans instead of sin?
If you wrote Chefen låter honom planera hans arbetsdag, it would mean the boss is letting him plan someone else's workday. Usually, this would be interpreted as the boss's workday ("The boss lets him plan the boss's workday"), or perhaps a third male colleague's workday.
Why is there no att before the infinitive planera?
The verb låta (to let/allow) takes a bare infinitive, meaning you drop the infinitive marker att. This works exactly like English: we say "lets him plan", not "lets him to plan", so in Swedish it is låter honom planera, not låter honom att planera.
Why is there an 's' in the middle of arbetsdag?
Arbetsdag is a compound word made from arbete (work) and dag (day). When arbete forms the first part of a compound noun, it typically drops its final 'e' and takes a joining 's' (often called a fog-s). This 's' acts as glue to make the compound easier to pronounce.
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