"Vi begår alla brott ibland."

Translation: We all commit crimes sometimes.

[elderhewitt]

but this couldn't mean "we commit all crimes sometimes"? right. like sometimes we commit every crime.
it makes more sense to say "Vi alla begår brott ibland'

[Arnauti]

Yes, it could mean 'We commit all crimes sometimes', and that is an accepted answer, but it's not a very good one – just like in English, we'd be much more likely to express this in a clearer way if we really wanted to say it. Like alla möjliga brott 'all kinds of crime' or something like that.

The reason we don't say Vi alla begår brott is that we want the verb to be in second place in all sentences that are not questions or subclauses. Read more about word order here: https://www.duolingo.com/comment/8970470

You could claim that it would still be V2 if you view Vi alla as one unit. I think native speakers are divided on this: I wouldn't use Vi alla that way, it sounds old-fashioned to me, but some might.

[araruney]

I think you could find a way around it with word order,something like Vi begår ibland alla brott.I don't know,however,i'm not Swedish.That would probably mean that we commit all crimes sometimes,although i don't think anyone would say a sentence like that anyway.

But you can't translate literally word for word,you should always use the given order.You can find some info on word order in Swedish and it'll be much clearer once you've read it.It is my understanding that the action always comes before,
i.e. Jag äter aldrig fläsk (I never eat pork) ,and not Jag aldrig äter fläsk

[Anders739637]

I think the correct way to say this sentence would be 'Alla begår ett brott ibland' or 'Ibland begår alla ett brott'. I think it's important to make the distinction between a crime (singular) and crimes (plural). A native speaker is also not likely to say both vi and alla as we is implied in all.

[chaered]

The given translation "We all commit crime at times" sounds wrong to me, because I feel "crime" in this context functions as a countable noun. I'd expect "We all commit crimeS at times" (plural) or "We all commit A crime at times". What do you think? I realize it can work as a mass noun elsewhere, e.g.: "Crime has decreased since then."

[Anrui]

I just saw this and thought of this sentence. It is a bit related, even though they never say this particular sentence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yUwdv1sN30

N.B. This requires a rather high level in Swedish listening comprehension

[.Storr.]

Thanks for that link, Anrui.

To everyone who can't view the video because it is blocked, here's another link that works: https://www.facebook.com/Humorsajten/videos/906185762789427/

[Egbert-NL]

My answer: we all commit 'a' crime at times was not approved. To me there is not much difference.

[devalanteriel]

That's not really idiomatic English, though.

[Egbert-NL]

Ok, thanks, that 'a' makes it very definite. I suppose that isn't what was meant here.

[Annikajns]

Can someone explain why this would be 'Vi alla begår brott ibland'?

[Zmrzlina]

To say it like that is OK too, but less idiomatic.

[Heidy712]

And then go to jail cryyyyy

[Rolf778527]

Is "Vi begår alla ibland brott" also possible?

[devalanteriel]

Nope, the adverb can't go there. It sounds like "We all commit sometimes crimes."

[AhmadGhaem]

I agree it's not the best way to put it, although I must say you can hear a native speaker word it like this occassionally, so it's not the kind of mistake that would definitely "out" you as a non-native. :-)

I'm not even 100% sure if it's grammatically incorrect either to be honest, since I could imagine someone saying "Vi begår alla sällan brott" which would sound as awkward as "We all seldom commit crime", but still work. You could also say "Vi begår sällan brott allihop".

"Vi begår alla brott sällan" wouldn't work at all though. (Similarly to how "We all commit crimes seldom" doesn't work).

[kss8]

Either we commit a crime or we commit crimes. Please correct the English

[AhmadGhaem]

Can't be! As Annie Lööf put it: "I Sverige är det förbjudet att vara kriminell." (-:

[KumaRaj2]

That is quite ambiguous. The Swedish version may mean "we commit all of tge crimes sometimes". Criminals of a certain locality may boast like that.