Breakdown of Vad människan än säger, upprepar den mekaniska armen rörelsen.
vad
what
människan
the human
den
the (with en-words)
säga
to say
Questions & Answers about Vad människan än säger, upprepar den mekaniska armen rörelsen.
How does the structure vad ... än work here to mean whatever?
The phrase vad ... än translates to whatever. In Swedish, you usually place the subject of the subordinate clause directly between the question word and än. Here, the subject människan goes right in the middle, giving us vad människan än säger.
Could I keep the words together and say vad än människan säger instead?
No, keeping them together sounds unnatural. The rule is that if the subject is a noun or a pronoun, it almost always splits the question word and än.
Why does the verb upprepar come before its subject den mekaniska armen?
This is the Swedish V2 rule in action. The entire first clause (Vad människan än säger) counts as the first block of information. To keep the main verb in the second position, upprepar must come immediately after the comma.
Why do we need the suffix on armen in den mekaniska armen?
This is a quick reminder of Swedish double determination. When you have a definite noun described by an adjective, you need the freestanding article den, the adjective ending in -a (mekaniska), and the definite suffix attached to the noun itself (armen).