Breakdown of Vi vet inte vem som lämnar sprayburken.
vi
we
inte
not
vem
who
veta
to know (facts, information)
lämna
to leave
som
who / which / that (relative pronoun)
sprayburken
the spray can
Questions & Answers about Vi vet inte vem som lämnar sprayburken.
Why is som required in the phrase vem som lämnar?
In Swedish, when an indirect question acts as an embedded clause and the question word is the subject of that clause, you must add the relative particle som. Since vem (who) is the one doing the leaving here, it is the subject, so we must say vem som lämnar. If you leave out som, the sentence is grammatically incorrect.
If the sentence were 'We don't know who he is leaving behind', would we still need som?
No, you would just say Vi vet inte vem han lämnar. You only insert som when the interrogative word (vem, vad, vilken) is the subject of the action. When someone else is the subject (like han), vem is the object, so som is dropped.
Where would inte go if the sentence meant 'We don't know who does not leave the spray can'?
It would be Vi vet inte vem som inte lämnar sprayburken. In a subordinate clause (like this indirect question), sentence adverbs like inte must come before the verb. This is often taught as the BIFF rule: Bisats, Inte Före Finita verbet (Subclause, 'inte' before the finite verb).
Is it normal to glue an English loanword like spray directly to a Swedish word like burken?
Yes, very common! Even when the first part is an unassimilated loanword, Swedish strictly follows its rule of writing compound nouns as a single, unbroken word. You might also see it spelled the Swedish way as sprejburken, which is recommended by the Swedish Language Council, though sprayburken remains extremely common.
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