Breakdown of Vilket ord tror du att hon sa med det där tonfallet?
du
you (singular)
hon
she
tro
to believe
vilket
which (ett) / what a (ett-word, exclamatory)
säga
to say
med
with
att
that
det där
that (ett)
ordet
the word
tonfallet
the tone of voice
Questions & Answers about Vilket ord tror du att hon sa med det där tonfallet?
Why does Vilket ord come at the very beginning of the sentence when it is actually the object of what she said?
This is a perfect example of a satsfläta (sentence intertwining). The question phrase Vilket ord logically belongs to the subordinate clause (att hon sa...) but is extracted and pulled to the very front of the main sentence to turn the whole thing into a question.
Since Vilket ord belongs to the subordinate clause, why does the main clause invert to tror du?
The V2 (verb-second) rule applies to the main clause as a whole. Because the extracted phrase Vilket ord occupies the first position of the entire sentence, the main verb tror must take the second position, pushing the main subject du to the third position.
Is it possible to drop the word att here?
Yes! In spoken and casual written Swedish, it is very common to drop att in these intertwined sentences, resulting in Vilket ord tror du hon sa.... Keeping it is just a bit more formal and helps clarify the clause boundary.
Why do we say det där tonfallet with a definite ending on the noun? Doesn't det där already mean 'that'?
When you use the demonstrative pronouns den här/där or det här/där, Swedish requires the noun that follows to also be in the definite form. Since tonfall is an ett-word, it becomes det där tonfallet (literally 'that there the tone-of-voice').
Learn Vilket ord tror du att hon sa med det där tonfallet 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