Spelplanen ligger på bordet.

to lie

Breakdown of Spelplanen ligger på bordet.

• på: on
• bordet: the table
• spelplanen: the game board

Questions & Answers about Spelplanen ligger på bordet.

Why does Swedish use spelplanen instead of a separate word for the game board?

Because Swedish usually puts the definite article on the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the.

• spelplan = game board / a game board
• spelplanen = the game board

So the ending -en here is doing the job that the does in English.

Why is it bordet and not borden?

That is because Swedish nouns belong to different grammatical groups, often called en-words and ett-words.

• ett bord = a table
• bordet = the table

For many ett-words, the definite singular ending is -et.

Compare:

• en stol → stolen
• ett bord → bordet

So bordet is the correct definite form of bord.

Why is the verb ligger used here instead of är?