Another group of verbs

In this lesson we will take another group of verbs: the ones that must be followed by a specific little word:
Klara tittar på teve varje kväll. = Klara watches TV every evening.
Hans brukar lyssna på Roxette. = Hans listens to Roxette. The phrases “titta på” and “lyssna på” are just two examples. In these, you must add “på” if you want to say what people are watching / looking at or listening to. If you just say someone is looking or listening, then you leave “på” out: Någon tittar. Någon lyssnar. Just a side note: in Swedish, we use “titta på” for both “watch” and “look at” -and another side note: this is why some Swedies say “look at” when they should actually say “watch”. Anyway, back to track: the important thing here is that in these cases the word “på” is not denoting a place, but is connected to “titta” and “lyssna”.

Other verbs are followed by other small words (these small words are prepositions by official name, but as they are in this case connected to the verb and stand after it, I choose not to call them that in order not to confuse you.)
Han gav boken till mig. = He gave the book to me.
Jag tänker. = I’m thinking.
Jag tänker på Johan. = I’m thinking about Johan.
Han har berättat för mig att han har fått ett nytt jobb. = He told me that he got a new job.
Han har berättat för mig om sitt nya jobb. = He has told me about his new job. This sentence would be grammatically correct even like this: Han har berättat. = He has said it. / He has told me. With this verb, you need to know that its translations in English behave differently. The verb “say” cannot stand alone. It always have to be followed by what someone has said. The verb “tell” must be followed by “who” something was told to, and can be followed by more details, too. In Swedish, “berätta” can stand on its own. You can read some more often used verbs here.