Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Swedish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Vänta en sekund.
Why is the sentence just Vänta en sekund with no subject like du?
Because this is an imperative sentence, used for commands or requests. In Swedish, imperatives usually do not include the subject pronoun.
So instead of saying Du vänta en sekund, Swedish simply says:
Vänta en sekund.
This is like English Wait a second., where you is also usually left out.
What form is vänta here?
Vänta is the imperative form of the verb att vänta = to wait.
A few useful forms are:
- att vänta = to wait
- jag väntar = I wait / I am waiting
- vänta! = wait!
For many Swedish verbs ending in -a in the infinitive, the imperative looks the same as the basic verb stem, so vänta stays vänta.
Why is it en sekund and not ett sekund?
Because sekund is an en-word in Swedish.
Swedish nouns have two grammatical genders:
- en-words
- ett-words
Since sekund belongs to the en group, you say:
- en sekund
not:
- ett sekund
This is something learners usually have to memorize with each noun.