# Swedish: skulle installera



## kilton

Hello,

I'm confused by the usage of_ skulle_ here rather than simply the the past tense. 

_13 lägenheter vattenskadades när hyresgästen skulle installera en tvättmaskin.
_
EDIT: I'm thinking it means something like "was to have installed...", as in -- tried to install, but did not successfully install. True or false? Thanks.


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## LilianaB

Was supposed to install, was about to install.


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## BlueSuede

> _"13 lägenheter vattenskadades när hyresgästen skulle installera en tvättmaskin."_



Not only was supposed to, not only was about to, but he actually installed it and failed. The result was that 13 appartements was damaged by the water.


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## LilianaB

What indicates that he actually did it? I thought it happened during the installation, as he was about to install it. Can you kindly explain what would indicate that he did it?


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## BlueSuede

As I read in to the text is that the water damage was a result of the poor installation of the tenant. Without his work, no damage would occur.

I think it is unlikely that he was about to install this washing machine, but not yet started, the pipes suddenly burst and a water damage occur. No, the cause of the damage was his poor installation, not only his intention to install the machine.


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## LilianaB

Thank you BlueSuede. I was just wondering why not installerade? Did they use skulle because it is more like happened to install?


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## BlueSuede

I think "skulle" is used because there is a bit (very small, but yet) of a doubt involved. Perhaps the installer himself would like to dispute his full responsability of the accident. Or the composer of the sentence didn't want to express his conclusion ("He is to blame!") too bluntly.

If we, however, are dead sure that the installer's incompetence was the reason for the mishap, perhaps the sentence would be written something like "_13 lägenheter vattenskadades när hyresgästen installerade en tvättmaskin"_.

I wonder, is this a headline of the newspaper? They like to use "ska" and "skulle" to avoid the impression of stating full Truths...

But this is just a theory, I'm not sure at all.


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## LilianaB

Thank you.


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## kilton

BlueSuede said:


> I wonder, is this a headline of the newspaper? They like to use "ska" and "skulle" to avoid the impression of stating full Truths...



Not the headline, but a sentence from a news article. 

I seems reasonable that the installation would have been aborted once the pipe burst; hence, not completed. Would that be a reason to use _skulle installera?_


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## BlueSuede

_"13 lägenheter vattenskadades när hyresgästen *skulle *installera en tvättmaskin."
not
__"13 lägenheter vattenskadades när hyresgästen *höll på att* installera en tvättmaskin."_

We don't know if (if indeed he himself caused the damage, which is probable, but not entierly for certain, hence "skulle") the damage occured while the installation, or after (i.e. as a conmsequence of) the installation.

My theory is that "skulle" emphasize the probability. And that would be 'my' answer to the original question at hand. It doesn't show exactly _when_ the damage occurred
Any other theories?


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## Lugubert

I read _*skulle*_ as implying that the installation was the intended but not achieved result.


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## Åvävvla

Lugubert said:


> I read _*skulle*_ as implying that the installation was the intended but not achieved result.



Seconded.


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## e2efour

I recommend a look at the Swedish corpus (KORP). One example there suggests intention or the process of doing something:
Det visade sig att han hade glömt den i soffan i morse när han skulle  fara (=It turned out he had left them (e.g. the keys) on the sofa this morning when  he was on the point of leaving). Of course, he must actually have left  so it could be translated ("when he left"). Perhaps it's the same with _han skulle installera_.

We also have one definition of _skola_ from Svensk Handordbok: "(om ngt förestående) ... vi skulle just sätta oss till bords då..." This is equivalent to _i begrepp att_.

I think it unlikely that the installation process was completed before  the damage occurred or even that it was completed at all. However, there  seems to be some ambiguity.


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