utan att

Without -ing

Level 3

Use utan att followed by an infinitive verb to mean 'without -ing'.

How It Works

The construction utan att is the Swedish equivalent of the English 'without [verb]-ing'. It's used to describe that the action in the main clause happened without the action in the subordinate clause happening.

Structure:
The infinitive pattern is: Main Clause + utan att + Infinitive Verb.

  • In this infinitive pattern, use a base form such as tala, äta or sova. A finite clause with its own subject is a different valid pattern.
  • The subject of the main clause is implicitly the subject of the utan att clause as well.

For example:
Jag gick hem. Jag sa inte hejdå. (I went home. I didn't say goodbye.)
→ Jag gick hem utan att säga hejdå. (I went home without saying goodbye.)

The tense of the main verb does not affect the utan att construction; the infinitive in this pattern does not change with the main-clause tense:

  • Present: Hon pratar utan att tänka. (She talks without thinking.)
  • Past: Hon pratade utan att tänka. (She talked without thinking.)
  • Future: Hon kommer att prata utan att tänka. (She is going to talk without thinking.)

This pattern is very common and useful for connecting ideas in a more fluid way.

A Separate Subject And Verb
Utan att can be followed by a finite clause: Han smög bort utan att någon såg det. Here någon is the subject of såg; it need not be the person who left. The infinitive alternative utan att säga något has no explicit subject and usually refers back to the main subject.

For an earlier action, the infinitive can be perfect: Han gick utan att ha betalat. Ha remains an infinitive and betalat is supine. Choose the temporal relation rather than changing säga into a finite tense simply because the main clause is past.

Examples (5)

  1. Hon lämnade festen utan att säga hejdå.

    She left the party without saying goodbye.

    Word by Word: She left the-party without to say goodbye.

  2. Barnen lekte i timmar utan att bli trötta.

    The children played for hours without getting tired.

    Word by Word: The-children played for hours without to become tired.

  3. Man kan inte lära sig ett språk utan att öva.

    One cannot learn a language without practicing.

    Word by Word: One can not learn oneself a language without to practice.

  4. Han svarade på frågan utan att tveka.

    He answered the question without hesitating.

    Word by Word: He answered on the-question without to hesitate.

  5. Jag lyckades montera möblerna utan att läsa instruktionerna.

    I managed to assemble the furniture without reading the instructions.

    Word by Word: I succeeded to assemble the-furniture without to read the-instructions.

Common Mistakes

  • Using a conjugated verb instead of the infinitive after 'utan att'.

    Han gick utan att sa hej.
    Han gick utan att säga hej.

    In Han gick utan att säga hej, the infinitive shares its understood subject with Han. Sa is finite and cannot stand alone there. A full clause is possible with an explicit subject: Han gick utan att jag sa hej.

  • Omitting 'att' when connecting to a verb.

    Hon svarade utan tveka.
    Hon svarade utan att tveka.

    When you mean 'without doing something' (with a verb), you must use the full phrase utan att. The word utan by itself is a preposition used before nouns, e.g., kaffe utan socker (coffee without sugar).

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

utan attLevel 3Without -ing

Learn This First

To use 'utan att' (without -ing), you need to understand the preposition 'utan' and how the infinitive marker 'att' functions to link the preposition to a verb action.

Words in This Pattern

utan