In our seventh absolute beginner lesson, we are going to take what we have learned and flip everything upside down with the negation inte.
Negative statements
Inte is put, just like in English, after the verb in a sentence, however Swedish does not use the helper verb göra (to do) with a negation to construct negatated sentences. This makes Swedish sound a bit like bible English, however, it’s the same for a multitude of languages, like German, French, Spanish, etc.
Negative subclauses
In subclauses, a fancy term for sentences that begin with so-called subjunctions (another fancy term for words like because and that), Swedish make use of the so-called BIFF rule. It’s an acronym for “I bisats kommer inte framför det finita verbet” and just means that the verb that is conjugated will have the negation inte placed in front of it.
Negative questions
The negation inte turns a bit magical when it comes to questions and can be moved around a lot. Putting it in the first position, instead of the word, gives it the same feeling as putting surely in front of a statement in English: Inte gillar du fiskbullar? (Surely you don't like fish balls?)
Having inte after the verb or after the subject gives the sentence roughly the same neutral feeling. What you need to know at this point is that you can construct negative questions in the same way as you construct your negative statements: by putting inte directly after the verb.