Breakdown of Journalisten frågade om ministern kunde svara på frågan den kvällen.
kunna
to be able to, can
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
kvällen
the evening
frågan
the question
fråga
to ask
den
the (with en-words)
svara
to answer
journalisten
the journalist
om
if, whether
ministern
the minister
Questions & Answers about Journalisten frågade om ministern kunde svara på frågan den kvällen.
Why does the sentence use den kvällen instead of i kväll for 'that evening'?
Because this is reported speech in the past tense. The journalist originally asked 'Can you answer tonight?' (i kväll). But since we are reporting it later using the past tense verb frågade, we must shift the time reference from 'tonight' to 'that evening' (den kvällen).
Why is the verb kunde in the past tense here?
In Swedish, just like in English, indirect speech usually matches the tense of the main reporting verb. Since the sentence starts with the past tense frågade, the original present tense question ('Kan ministern svara...?') shifts back a step into the past tense (kunde).
Why do we need the preposition på after svara? English just says 'answer the question'.
When the verb svara takes a direct object, like a question, an email, or a phone call, it requires the preposition på. You can think of it as meaning 'respond to'. If there is no object, you can just use svara alone.
Can I use ifall instead of om for 'if' in this indirect question?
Yes! When introducing an indirect yes/no question, om and ifall (meaning 'if' or 'whether') are completely interchangeable. Using ifall here would sound very natural and means exactly the same thing.
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