How do I use "att"?

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to clarify the use of “att” before verbs. In the first few lessons in beginner’s Swedish, “att” is used before verbs when in English the “to” to indicate the infinitive wouldn’t be used e.g. “Du kommer att förstå…”
Where should “att” be used and where shouldn’t it?

Thank you

I dont know about the grammar rule, but if no one else answer this… atleast I can say that you don’t allways need the “att” part in spoken swedish, “du kommer förstå” works just fine. The word “att” is also used in other ways, ex:
“Att det ska vara så svårt, att förstå”
“Jag har hört, att fåglarna börjat sjunga…”
“Att man inte kan göra något åt det där ljudet”

Hopefully someone else can give you the grammar rule!

I don’t know of any grammar rule, but if you just keep plowing through material it should come naturally to you. Soon you won’t even need to think about it so don’t worry about not understanding it when you’re just starting.

Sometimes att is used with för as in ‘för att’. To me it generally seems to mean ‘for the purpose of’ Here’s an example: Jag använder ett ljus för att hjälpa mig att se bättre.

Can someone clarify when ‘att’ is pronounced closer to /å/. Is it intentional or just an individual’s differing pronunciation? It sounds like /å/ when it is used with an infinitive verb. An example: ‘Jag tror att han tycker om att simma.’ first att
/at/ second att often sounds like /å/…

any thoughts?

“To me it generally seems to mean ‘for the purpose of’”
A better translation would be “(in order) to”.

I don’t know of any grammar rules either. Liamt basically already said my entire opinion.^^

It has multiple usages, though…

The easiest one is “that”, as in “Jag tror att svenska faktiskt är ganska lätt” or “Det är trevligt att jag kan komma på meningar att skriva” etc.
I accidentally used it in a different way in the second sentence, but that’s easy, I guess, because it’s exactly the same in English.

Then there’s the prepositional usage that Andrea mentioned… “Jag reser till Sverige för att lära mig svenska” or “Fördelarna med att kunna svenska”. I think this usage is pretty simple… just read it literally and the meaning should be obvious. “I go to Sweden for to learn me Swedish” “The advantages with to can(=know) Swedish”

And then there’s that other usage where it just goes with verbs sometimes. I guess certain verbs just call for it… for example, “Du kommer att förstå” but “du verkar förstå”. I guess it’s quite similar to the English “to”, even in so much as the fact that it’s quite weirdly irregular and only certain verbs take it… “you will understand” but “you seem to understand”.

Well, either way, just get more exposure and it’ll all make sense eventually. :slight_smile:

Just so you know:

att kunna —> to know
att kunna —> to be able to

No need for you to translate it as “can” in the example above.

Wouldn’t the only time that “kunna” is “know” be when you’re talking about languages?
But yeah, either way, I know, it was a ‘literal translation’. I would obviously never say “I can Swedish” in an actual translation (although, as I get more and more used to German and Swedish, that starts sounding less and less weird :wink: )

Well no, actually, “att kunna” means “to know” in English in many other situations, but that’s hardly the point of this thread.

Instead of thinking of languages think of: “att kunna inför…” and you’ll get what I mean.

The question relates to “att” and not to “kunna” anyway :wink:

Good luck with your language learning!