Keramikkursen börjar idag.

The pottery class starts today.

Breakdown of Keramikkursen börjar idag.

• idag: today
• börja: to begin
• keramikkursen: the pottery class

Questions & Answers about Keramikkursen börjar idag.

Why does kursen end in -en?

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

• kurs = course
• kursen = the course

So Keramikkursen means the pottery course.

Is Keramikkursen one word because Swedish likes compound nouns?

Yes. Swedish very often combines nouns into one word.

Here:

• keramik = ceramics / pottery
• kursen = the course

So Keramikkursen is literally the ceramics-course, or more naturally in English, the pottery course.

This is very common in Swedish, and compounds are normally written as a single word.

Why is it Keramikkursen and not keramikkursen with a lowercase k?

In normal Swedish spelling, it would usually be written keramikkursen with a lowercase letter, unless it is at the beginning of a sentence.

So in a standalone example sentence, you often see:

• Keramikkursen börjar idag.

because it starts the sentence.

If the word appeared in the middle of a sentence, it would normally be lowercase:

• Jag tror att keramikkursen börjar idag.

What does börjar mean, and what form is it?