Learn Swedish: Kan du tyda om den kom från vår kontinent? - Can you decipher if it came from our continent?

Since this lesson is about varifrån (from where), how would the sentence change if I wanted to ask "Can you decipher where it came from?" instead?

You would replace the yes/no conjunction om (if/whether) and the specific location (från vår kontinent) with the relative adverb varifrån. The sentence would simply become: Kan du tyda varifrån den kom?

What exactly does tyda mean here, and why not just use förstå?

Tyda translates to "decipher", "interpret", or "make out". It implies that the origin of the object is obscured, physically difficult to read, or requires deep analysis to figure out. Using förstå (understand) would sound a bit too general or passive for this context.

What happens to the word order if I want to add inte (not) to the second part of the sentence?

Because om den kom... is a subordinate clause, you must follow the BIFF rule. This rule reminds us that in subordinate clauses, sentence adverbs like inte always come before the conjugated verb. The negative version would be: Kan du tyda om den inte kom från vår kontinent?

Why is it vår kontinent and not vårt kontinent?

The noun kontinent (continent) is an en-word (en kontinent). Therefore, you must use the common gender form of the possessive pronoun, which is vår.