Breakdown of Johan, han försökte flirta med mig!
han
he
försöka
to try
mig
me
Johan
Johan
med
with
flirta
to flirt
Questions & Answers about Johan, han försökte flirta med mig!
Why do we say Johan, han försökte... instead of just Johan försökte...?
This is called left-dislocation. We pull the topic of the sentence (Johan) to the very beginning to emphasize who we are talking about, then use a pronoun (han) to resume the sentence. It is incredibly common in everyday spoken Swedish, often conveying surprise, emphasis, or setting up a juicy story.
Does this structure break the V2 rule, since the verb försökte seems to be in the third position?
It actually perfectly obeys the V2 rule! In left-dislocation, the fronted word (Johan) sits completely outside the main clause. The actual main clause begins with the pronoun han (position 1), making the verb försökte the second element in that clause.
Is the comma required here?
Yes, the comma is needed in written Swedish to separate the dislocated topic from the main clause. In spoken Swedish, this corresponds to a distinct pause, signaling to the listener that the main clause is about to begin.
What if Johan was the object of the flirting instead of the subject? How would the pronoun change?
The resumptive pronoun must match the grammatical role of the fronted word. If you meant 'Johan, I tried to flirt with him!', you would use the object pronoun and say: Johan, honom försökte jag flirta med! Notice that here, honom is the first element of the main clause, so the verb försökte immediately follows it.
Learn Johan, han försökte flirta med mig 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