Breakdown of Chefen förnekade att ministern kände till mutan.
chefen
the boss
att
that
förneka
to deny
känna till
to know of, to be aware of
Questions & Answers about Chefen förnekade att ministern kände till mutan.
Why is kände till in the past tense here?
Because this is indirect speech reporting a past event. Just like in English, Swedish uses a sequence of tenses. The reporting verb förnekade (denied) is in the past tense, so the verb in the att-clause is shifted back into the past tense (kände till) to match. If it were a direct quote, the boss would have used the present tense: Ministern känner inte till mutan.
Could we use visste instead of kände till here?
You could use visste om (knew about), which has almost exactly the same meaning. However, känna till emphasizes being aware of or acquainted with a fact, event, or thing. Be careful not to drop the particle till; just saying kände mutan would sound like the minister personally knew the bribe as a friend!
If the boss originally said 'The minister doesn't know about it here', how would här (here) change in this sentence?
Because the reporting verb förnekade is in the past tense, place adverbs shift to match the new, distant perspective. The word här (here) would shift to där (there). The sentence would become: Chefen förnekade att ministern kände till mutan där.
How does the word mutan break down?