General

Auxiliary verbs are "helping verbs".  They do not constitute a verb phrase on their own, but must usually be followed by a main verb. The group of auxiliary verbs includes Modal auxiliaries (must, can), Temporal auxiliaries (have), Passive auxiliaries (be) and Copulas (be, become).

1.8.1. Modal auxiliaries

General

One of the principle ways to express mood, i.e. the attitude of the speaker to the activity expressed, is to use a modal auxiliary together with the infinitive of the main verb: I must stop. I would like to ask you a favour. The modal auxiliaries of the Germanic languages usually distinguish between four different moods:

a. epistemic meaning, expresses to which degree the proposition is true according to the speaker, ranging from logical necessity to subjectively judged probability: I’m sure, he must be there.

b. deontic meaning, expresses whether or not the proposition is necessary or possible according to some normative system: He must help her.

c. potential meaning, expresses the latent possibility to do something: He can do it.

d. intentional meaning, expresses that the subject referent has the intension to do something: I will write as soon as I can.

Swedish

Unless it is in the finite position, the modal auxiliary is usually the first element of the verb phrase, preceding other auxiliaries and the main verb: att han inte lär ha gjort det ’that he not is said to have done it’, om han måste göra det ’if he must do it’.
 
 

The most common Swedish modal auxiliaries are listed below:
 

Infinitive	Present	Past	Supine	Meaning
skola	ska (skall)	skulle	(skolat)	shall, will
kunna	kan	kunde	kunnat	be able
vilja	vill	ville	velat	will, want to
—	måste	måste	—	must, have to
böra	bör	borde	bort	should, ought to
—	tör	torde	—	is probably
—	må	måtte	—	may, must
—	lär	—	—	is said to
låta	låter	lät	låtit	let
få	får	fick	fått	may, be allowed to, must, have to

Since some modal auxiliaries have infinitive forms, they can occur after other modal auxiliaries:

(1) a. Tåget lär kunna komma snart.

train.the is-said-to be-able-to come soon

b. Han måste kunna få göra det.

he must be-able-to be-allowed-to do it
 
 

,1.8.2. Other auxiliaries

General

In addition to modal auxiliaries, the Germanic languages have temporal auxiliares (he has bought the book), passive auxiliaries (The door was opened), aspectual auxiliaries (He is coming) and copular auxiliaries (He is rich, She was the murderer).  English has the auxiliary, do, in addition.

Swedish

Swedish has temporal auxiliaries, passive auxiliaries and copular auxiliaries; there is no (grammaticalized) aspectual auxiliary. Unless preceded by a modal auxiliary, an auxiliary of this kind is either in the finite position (main clauses) or the first element of the verb phrase: att han inte har kommit ’that he not has come’

The temporal auxiliaries in Swedish are ha ‘have’, ska ‘shall’ and kommer att ‘will’. Ha is used together with a particular uninflected form of the verb, called the supine, to form the perfect and pluperfect tenses. Unlike the past participle, to which the supine is closely related, it does not agree with the subject.

(1) a. Han har redan kommit. Han har köpt en ny bil.

he has already arrived he has bought a new car

b. Han hade arbetat hårt. Han hade målat huset.

he had worked hard he had painted the house

c. Han lär ha avlidit plötsligt. Han måste ha hört tjuven.

he is-said-to have died suddenly he must have heard thief.the

Ska(ll) and kommer att are used together with the infinitive of the verb to form the future tense. Ska + infinitive does not merely indicate future tense but also often has a modal sense. In contrast, kommer att + infinitive is used with a personal subject, indicating a firm intention of committing the action described, at some point in the future.
 

(2) a. Jag ska resa till Köpenhamn i morgon. I shall go to Copenhagen tomorrow b. Det ska bli intressant att läsa boken. it will be interesting to read book.the(3) a. Det kommer att regna senare. it will rain later b. Jag kommer att göra det. I will do it

The passive auxiliaries in Swedish are bli ‘become’ and vara ‘be’, followed by a past participle that agrees with the subject. The form utilising bli is used to express a transition from one state to another, whereas the form utilising vara stresses the result of an action or a completed transition.

(4) a. Han blev påkörd av en bil igår. b. Han är plågad av mygg.

he was hit by a car yesterday he is tormented by mosquitoes

Swedish has two copular auxiliaries, vara ‘be’ and bli ‘become’. Vara is used when referring to a state, bli when referring to a change:

(5) a. Han var sjuk igår. b. Han blev sjuk igår.

he was sick yesterday he got sick yesterday

1.9. THE MAIN CLAUSE

General

The main clause does not function as a part of another clause. It is the prototypical form of the clause, and, as such, of the utterance. Structurally, there are three types of main clauses:

A. The proper main clause, which has a tensed verb and functions as an assertion or a question:

(1) a. He will open the window. c. Her talk was very provocative.

b. Last week I was in York. d. He has not read the book yet.

(2) a. Will he open the window? c. Wasn’t her talk very provocative?

b. Were you in York last week? d. Hasn’t he read the bookyet?

B. The imperative main clause, which has an imperative verb and functions as a demand.

(3) a. Open the window! c. Be kind!

b. You shut up! d. Don’t you dare to talk to me like this!

C. The exclamative main clause, which typically has the form of an embedded clause.

(4) a. What a silly dress you bought!

b. How stupid you are!

The main clauses in (1)-(4) all constitute simple clauses. When coordinated with one or several other main clauses we get a complex clause, as in (5):

(5) a. [Last week I was in York], [now I am in Tallin] and [next week I will be in Boston].

b. [I do not like fish] but [my wife is enthusiastic about it].

The main clause itself cannot be embedded, but it can contain one or several embedded clauses:

(6) a. I think [that he is silly].

d. [That she is angry] doesn’t surprise me.

Note that even when the main clause has a form that corresponds to an embedded clause (as does the exclamative main clause), it cannot be embedded. If we try to embed the exclamative in (7a), the exclamative reading is lost:

(7) a. How many flowers they bought!

b. I wonder how many flowers they bought.

In (7b), the embedded clause must be interpreted as an embedded question.

1.9.1. Declaratives

There are two kinds of declarative main clauses, positive affirmative and negative affirmative ones.

(1) a. He will arrive tomorrow. He bought the book. That girl I want to kiss.

b. He will not arrive tomorrow. He did not buy the book. That girl I do not want to kiss.

1.9.1.1. Positive affirmatives

Swedish

Swedish positive affirmatives have the tensed verb in second position, the finite position (see 1.1, 1.3.). The finite verb is preceded by at most one constituent (the first position) and when that constituent is not the subject, the subject usually follows the tensed verb directly.

(1)
 

First Position	M i d d l e p a r t			F i n a l p a r t
	Finite	Subject	Sent.advl	Verb	Object	Advl
Rune Rune	har has		inte not	läst read	den här boken this book	än yet
Den här boken this book	har has	han he	faktiskt actually	läst read
Igår Yesterday	fick got	Erik Erik	nog probably		en ny skjorta a new shirt	av sin fru by his wife

When the subject is a noun phrase or a stressed pronoun, it may occur after the sentence adverbial, or between the sentence adverbials, as illustrated in (2):

(2) a. Pojkarna hade ju förmodligen faktiskt inte läst böckerna.

boys.the had of-course probably actually not read books.the

A handful of adverbials may occur between the subject in first position and the finite verb:

(3) a. Han kanske kommer ikväll.

he perhaps comes tonight

b. Han bara gick sin väg.

he just went away

c. Han nästan slängde sig ut från balkongen.

he almost threw himself out from the balcony

Note that the verb is not in second position in these cases.

In declarative main clauses almost any clause element may occur in the first position, although in most cases we find the subject here (in 60-70% of the cases), as in (4a). It is also common to find an adverbial in first position (20-30% of the cases) as in (4b,c), or the object (5-10% of the cases) as in (4d). Less common is a predicative complement (4e) or a particle (4f).

(4) a. Han hittade faktiskt pengarna under sängen. (subj + tensed verb)

he found actually money.the under bed.the

b. Under sängen hittade han faktiskt pengarna. (adverbial + tensed verb)

under bed.the found he actually money.the

c. Faktiskt hittade han pengarna under sängen. (adverbial + tensed verb)

actually found he money.the under bed.the

d. Pengarna hittade han faktiskt under sängen. (object + tensed verb)

money.the found he actually under bed.the

e. Sjuk var han inte. (predicative + tensed verb)

sick was he not

He was not sick.

f. Ut kastade han bollen. (particle + tensed verb)

out threw he ball.the

He threw the ball out.

When declarative main clauses are coordinated, the first position of the second conjunct may be omitted if it is a subject:

(5) Ulla reste till Stockholm och köpte en ny bil.

Ulla went to Stockholm and bought a new car

When something other than the subject is in first position, deleting the first position in the second conjunct is not possible unless the subject of the second conjunct is also omitted:

(6) Den nya bilen körde hon till Uppsala och parkerade (??hon) framför domkyrkan.

Swedish

Negative affirmatives in Swedish have the same syntax as positive affirmatives.  Negation (inte) has the function of a sentence adverbial and is usually the last in a series of adverbials.

(1) a. Han hade inte köpt boken.

he had not bought book.the

b. Nu behöver han inte dej längre.

now needs he not you any-longer

c. Jag undrar om han inte har kommit nu?

I wonder if he not has come now

Like other sentence adverbials, negation may precede the subject when it follows the finite verb:

(2) Igår kunde inte Kalle komma.

yesterday could not Kalle come

A real difference between negative and positive declaratives is that negative polarity items, i.e. words that must occur in negative contexts (also in questions), do not occur in positive declaratives.

(3) Han hade inte någonsin varit i Paris. compare *Han hade någonsin varit i Paris.

(4) a. Han hade ingenting sett. Compare Han hade inte sett någonting.

he had nothing seen he had not seen anything

b. Han hade ingen cykel köpt. Compare Han hade inte köpt någon cykel.

he had no bike bought he had not bought any bike

The pronoun ingen, ‘no-one’, like other negating pronouns, cannot occur in a position where negation could not occur; however, placing it between the auxiliary and the infinite main verb is usually avoided:

(10) ^??Han hade ingen träffat.

he had no-one met

1.9.2. Direct questions

There are two types of questions, yes/no-questions and wh-questions:

(1) a. Has he arrived? (Answer: Yes (or No))

b. Who has arrived? (Answer: Tom (or Bill, or Ann, or …)

1.9.2.1. Yes/no-questions

Swedish

The Swedish direct yes/no-question begins with the tensed verb.  Its word order properties are those of declarative main clauses without the base (the first position):

(1)
 

M i d d l e  p a r t			F i n a l  p a r t
Finite	Subject	Sent.advl	Verb	Object	Advl
Har have	du you	inte not	läst read	den här boken this book	än? yet
Läste read	Eva Eva			den här boken this book	på tåget? at train.the
Spelar play	någon av er any of you	möjligen eventually		schack? chess
Måste must	han he	verkligen really	skrika shout		så? like that

As in declaratives, sentence adverbials may precede the subject:

(2) Har inte din dotter kommit än?

has not your daughter come yet

When conjoined with eller ‘or’, the second conjoined yes/no-question is often elliptical. There are three common types:

(3) a. The second conjunct is a negation, and the rest is reconstructable from the first conjunct:

Är han glad eller inte? (i.e.: Är han glad eller är han inte glad?)

is he glad or not is he glad or is he not glad

b. The second conjunct just contains one constituent, the rest is reconstructable from the first:

Ska Eva göra det eller Stina? (i.e. Ska Eva göra det eller ska Stina göra det?)

shall Eva do it or Stina shall Eva do it or shall Stina do it

c. The second conjunct is lacking, i.e. the clause ends with the conjunction.

Har du läst boken eller?

have you read book.the or

(3c) has the function of a cautious question, where the speaker does not want to imply either yes or no.

1.9.2.2. Wh-questions

General

All the Germanic languagages have the wh-word in clause initial position. If there are several wh-words in a clause, only one of them may be in front of the tensed verb.

Swedish

The Swedish direct wh-question begins with a wh-word (vem ‘who’, vad ‘what’, vilken, vilket, vilka ‘which, varför ‘why’, när ‘when’, hur ‘how’, var ‘where’) or a noun phrase hosting a wh-word (vilka böcker ‘which books' ). The word order properties are the same as those of ordinary declarative main clauses:

(1)
 

First Position	M i d d l e p a r t			F i n a l p a r t
	Finite	Subject	Sent.advl	Verb	Object	Advl
Vem who	har has		inte not	läst read	den här boken this book	än? yet
Vilka böcker which books	vill want	han he	inte not	läsa read		idag? today
När when	måste must	du you	senast as latest	skicka send	brevet? letter.the
Varför why	köpte bought	han he	inte n ot		boken book.the	igår? yesterday

As in declaratives and yes/no questions, sentence adverbials may precede the subject in a wh-question when this is not questioned:

(2) Vilka tidningar vill faktiskt inte Elsa läsa?

which newspapers want actually not Elsa read

The wh-word may be part of a noun phrase, as in vilka böcker ‘which books’, vems cykel ‘whose bike’, and it may also be modified by expressions like vad i all världen ‘what in all world.the’, vem i hela friden ‘who in whole peace.the’, and oaths like i helvete ‘in hell:

(3) Vad i all världen/Vad i helvete är det där?

what in all world what in hell is that

When the wh-word is combined with the prepositional phrase för + nounphrase (compare German was für ein etc.) either the whole phrase is in first position or, if the phrase has the function of direct object, only the wh-word is in first position.  In this case the prepositional phrase is in the original position of the whole wh-phrase, or it is in final position.

(4) a. Vad för böcker vill du köpa idag?

what for books want you buy today

b. Vad vill du köpa för böcker idag?

what want you buy for books today

c. Vad vill du köpa idag för böcker?

what want you buy today for books

Occasionally, the wh-word is not in first position (echo-questions):

(5) Du köpte vad för något?

you bought what for something
 
 

1.9.3. Imperatives

General

The imperative main clause is prototypically used to express demands:

(1) Open the door! Don’t be stupid!

In most Germanic languages, the imperative is the bare stem of the verb. It is usually the first element of the clause, and as seen from (1), it is not necessary to overtly express the subject (the addressee), even in languages like English where otherwise the subject is an obligatory constituent of the clause.

Swedish

The Swedish imperative begins with the imperative verb; its word order properties are those of declarative main clauses ignoring the first position:

(1)
 

M i d d l e p a r t			F i n a l p a r t
Finite	Subject	Sent.advl	Verb	Object	Advl
Köp buy		inte not		den här boken this book	än! yet
Läs read	du you			den här brevet this letter	för henne! for her
Försök try		inte not	öppna to-open	dörren! door.the

Like the other sentence types with a verb in the finite position, the imperative sentence may have its subject preceded by a sentence adverbial:

(2) Bli inte du arg också!

become not you angry too

When overt, the subject of the imperative clause can be placed further to the right in the sentence in places where it cannot occur in ordinary declarative sentences, or in questions:

(3) a. Bli inte arg du också!

become not angry you either

b. *Då blev inte arg han heller. / ^okDå blev inte han arg heller.