"Do you usually write letters?"

Translation: Brukar du skriva brev?

[-..--..-.-.-.-]

How is "skriver du brukar brev" wrong?

[Berniebud]

In Swedish, "Brukar" isn't an adverb like "Usually" is in English, but an auxiliary verb.

It works like "Kan" in "Kan du skriva brev"

[zuvedra_mandra]

But 'skriver du vanligtvis brev' was correct! Is there any difference in meaning vs 'brukar du skriva brev'?

[Arnauti]

A small nuance, I think. Maybe you can feel it in English if you compare the sentences in the past tense instead: I used to write letters vs I usually wrote letters.

[Ezra746950]

those would translate, jag brukade skriva brev, vs. jag vanligtvis skrev brev, in that order?

[devalanteriel]

Close - the latter is jag skrev vanligtvis brev, due to the v2 rule. :)

[MikyNik1856]

I wrote "Vangligtvis skriver du brev?". Did i mess up the word order or is this a correct translation that hasn't been added yet?

[LennartdeFraeisk]

"V2" rule???

[NattKullav1]

The V2 rule does not apply in case of question sentence. And "brukar" is a help verb in Swedish.

[LennartdeFraeisk]

I should have known that was the case... Thank you!

[Sam459565]

Verb second

[NattKullav1]

Is "Brukar du skriva bokstäver" a correct answer here? :D

[zk1P4]

What is the difference between Vanligt and brukar as both means usually

[devalanteriel]

• vanlig = common, and vanligt is the singular ett-word and adverb form, but it's not used like this
• vanligtvis = usually, adverb
• brukar = to habitually/usually do, verb

So they're from different word classes.

[Ezra746950]

Brukar du vanligtvis skriva brev? Was not accepted.
Redundant use of usually or gramatically incorrect?

[InvertedGo]

It's redundant but does not sound weird.

[Vithralas]

"Skriva du vanligt brev?" is wrong. I can't understand the difference between vanligt and brukar, I guess they're just different kind of words, can someone help with this?

[devalanteriel]

• vanligtvis means "usually"
• vanligt means "common" (singular indefinite ett-word adjective)
• brukar means "usually do"

So you can use vanligtvis here.

Also:

• skriva is the infinitive
• skriver is the present tense

[Vithralas]

So vanligtvis is the adverb, vanligt is an adjective only for ett-words and brukas is like some kind of verb that means the same... like you said in the previous comment to zk1P4.
So, if I get it properly, "Skriva du vanligt brev?" would mean something like "Do you write common letters?" Is that my mistake?

[devalanteriel]

Well, it's still skriver, not skriva. And you need to either add the article for the singular or use the plural form, as below. But you're right about the general meaning.

• Skriver du ett vanligt brev?
• Skriver du vanliga brev?

[Vithralas]

Oh, yes, I also forgot that, I got it. OK, thank you very much for this clarification, I get it now :D