Breakdown of Utomjordingen ska ha kraschat rymdskeppet i skogen.
i
in
ha
to have
skogen
the forest
utomjordingen
the alien
ska
is said to, reportedly
krascha
to crash (planes, computers)
rymdskeppet
the spaceship
Questions & Answers about Utomjordingen ska ha kraschat rymdskeppet i skogen.
Why does ska translate to "reportedly" here instead of "will" or "shall"?
When recounting news, rumors, or unverified claims, Swedish uses ska to mean "is said to" or "reportedly". This is a special use of ska that shows the speaker is just passing on second-hand information, rather than talking about a future plan or an obligation.
How do we know the crash happened in the past if ska is a present-tense verb?
To report a past event using this "hearsay" structure, you pair ska with the perfect tense: ha + the supinum form of the verb (kraschat). It literally translates to "is said to have crashed". If the rumor was about a future event, it would just be the bare infinitive: ska krascha.
Could I use lär ha kraschat instead of ska ha kraschat?
Yes, but there is a slight difference in nuance. Both can translate to "is said to have", but ska is standard for objective reporting, like in journalism or police reports. lär often implies a bit more of the speaker's own assumption, closer to "probably crashed" or "is likely to have crashed".
What is the literal breakdown of the word utomjordingen?
It breaks down into utom (outside/beyond) + jord (earth) + -ing (a suffix for a person/creature) + -en (the definite suffix). So it literally means "the extra-terrestrial" or "the out-of-earther".
Here, the alien crashed the ship. Can I also use krascha to just say "the ship crashed"?
Yes, exactly like in English, krascha can be used both with a direct object (someone crashed a vehicle) and without one (the vehicle itself crashed). You could just as easily say Rymdskeppet ska ha kraschat (The spaceship reportedly crashed).
Learn Utomjordingen ska ha kraschat rymdskeppet i skogen 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