Vittnet kunde identifiera tjuven på inspelningen.

be able to

Breakdown of Vittnet kunde identifiera tjuven på inspelningen.

• på: on
• tjuven: the thief
• vittnet: the witness

Questions & Answers about Vittnet kunde identifiera tjuven på inspelningen.

Why are vittnet, tjuven, and inspelningen all in a definite form?

In Swedish, the definite article is usually attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word like the in English.

• vittne = a witness

• vittnet = the witness

• tjuv = a thief

• tjuven = the thief

• inspelning = a recording
• inspelningen = the recording

So this sentence refers to specific people/things already known in the context: the witness, the thief, and the recording.

Why does vittnet end in -et, but tjuven ends in -en?

That is because Swedish nouns belong to different grammatical genders.

• vittne is a neuter noun, so the singular definite ending is -et → vittnet
• tjuv is a common gender noun, so the singular definite ending is usually -en → tjuven

This is a very common pattern in Swedish:

• neuter: ett hus → huset
• common gender: en bil → bilen