Breakdown of Instruktören vill att hon dyker till bottnen.
hon
she
vilja
to want to
till
to (direction, destination)
att
that
dyka
to dive
instruktören
the instructor
bottnen
the bottom
Questions & Answers about Instruktören vill att hon dyker till bottnen.
Why doesn't Swedish say vill henne att dyka like the English 'wants her to dive'?
In English, we use an object pronoun and an infinitive ('wants her to dive'). Swedish doesn't do this with verbs of volition like vill when the subject changes. Instead, you must start a completely new subclause with att. Because it's a new clause, it needs its own subject and a conjugated verb, literally translating to 'wants that she dives'.
Why is it hon instead of henne when the English translation uses 'her'?
Because the att clause acts as a full mini-sentence on its own. In this new clause, she is the one performing the action (diving), so she is the subject. Therefore, you must use the subject pronoun hon (she) rather than the object pronoun henne (her).
Why is dyker in the present tense instead of the infinitive?
Since att introduces a new clause with its own subject (hon), the verb must be conjugated. Because the instructor's wanting is happening right now in the present, the expected action of diving is also expressed in the present tense (dyker), rather than the infinitive (dyka).
Why is it bottnen and not just botten for 'the bottom'?
The base noun is en botten. Nouns ending in unstressed -el, -er, or -en usually drop their final vowel when taking the definite suffix. So botten plus the definite -en becomes bottnen. You might also hear native speakers just use botten for both the indefinite and definite form, but bottnen is the standard definite form.
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