Breakdown of Vad gör vi om polisen skulle gripa kumpanen?
vi
we
vad
what
göra
to do, to make
polisen
the police officer
Questions & Answers about Vad gör vi om polisen skulle gripa kumpanen?
Why use skulle gripa instead of just griper in this sentence?
Using om + skulle + the bare infinitive (gripa) creates a tentative conditional. It translates perfectly to 'if the police were to arrest' or 'if the police should arrest.' It makes the scenario sound more hypothetical and less likely to happen than if you had used the present tense (om polisen griper).
Why is the main clause in the present tense (Vad gör vi) instead of using a conditional like Vad skulle vi göra?
It is natural in Swedish to mix a present tense main clause with a tentative conditional om-clause. Saying Vad gör vi ('What do we do') makes the need for a plan feel immediate and real, even though the triggering event is hypothetical. Using Vad skulle vi göra ('What would we do') would also be grammatically correct, just slightly more theoretical.
In English, 'the police' is treated as a plural noun. Is polisen plural in Swedish?
No, polisen is grammatically singular. It refers to the police force as a single collective entity or to an individual police officer. If you wanted to refer to multiple police officers specifically, you would use the plural definite form, poliserna.
What is the base form of kumpanen and does it imply a specific kind of partner?