Questions & Answers about Du formar och skulpterar fatet med händerna.
Why does the sentence start with du? Can Swedish leave out the subject like some other languages?
No. In normal Swedish, you usually must state the subject.
So du formar och skulpterar ... is the normal way to say it. Unlike in some languages, Swedish does not normally drop the subject just because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.
So:
- du formar = you shape
- not just formar on its own in ordinary speech
What tense are formar and skulpterar?
They are both in the present tense.
Their infinitive forms are:
- forma = to shape, to form
- skulptera = to sculpt
In the present tense, many Swedish verbs like these take -r:
- forma → formar
- skulptera → skulpterar
So the sentence is describing something happening now, or something done generally/habitually.
Why are there two verbs, formar och skulpterar?