Breakdown of Jag vet inte vem som målar samhällskritiken nattetid.
jag
I
inte
not
vem
who
veta
to know (facts, information)
måla
to paint
som
who / which / that (relative pronoun)
nattetid
at night
samhällskritiken
the social criticism
Questions & Answers about Jag vet inte vem som målar samhällskritiken nattetid.
Why is som required after vem in this sentence? Can I leave it out?
You cannot leave it out. This is an indirect question where vem (who) is the subject of the embedded clause (the one doing the painting). In Swedish, when a question word like vem, vad, or vilken acts as the subject of a dependent clause, you must insert the relative particle som directly after it.
How is samhällskritiken constructed, and why is there an 's' in the middle?
It is a compound word made of samhälle (society) and kritiken (the criticism). The -s- is a linking consonant used to smoothly glue the two nouns together. Notice that while English uses an adjective ('social criticism'), Swedish creates a direct compound meaning 'society criticism'.
Can I say på natten instead of nattetid?
If I wanted to say 'who does not paint the social criticism', where would inte go?
It would become vem som inte målar. Because this indirect question is a subordinate clause, sentence adverbs like inte must be placed before the verb (målar), unlike in main clauses where inte comes after the verb.
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