Breakdown of Han får skylla sig själv.
han
he
få
to be allowed to, may
skylla sig själv
to have oneself to blame
Questions & Answers about Han får skylla sig själv.
Doesn't får usually mean 'is allowed to' or 'receives'? Why is it used here?
While får often means 'may' or 'receives', it is also frequently used as a modal verb meaning 'has to' or 'must' when something is inevitable or out of one's control. Here, han får implies he has no other choice but to blame himself.
I thought 'to blame' was skylla på. Why is there no på in this sentence?
You use skylla på when pointing the finger at an external excuse or another person (for example, han skyller på hunden - he blames the dog). But when you are saying someone has themselves to blame as a general state of fault, the fixed idiomatic expression is skylla sig själv, without the på.
Could I translate the English meaning literally and say han har sig själv att skylla?
Yes, you absolutely can! Han har sig själv att skylla works perfectly in Swedish and means exactly the same thing. However, han får skylla sig själv is a very common idiomatic alternative that you will hear frequently in everyday conversation.
Why use both sig and själv? Doesn't sig already mean 'himself'?
Sig is indeed the reflexive pronoun for 'himself' (acting as the object), but adding själv creates strong emphasis. It highlights that the fault lies with him and absolutely no one else, much like the emphasis in the English phrase 'he has himself to blame'.
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