Hon tar vara på den övermogna bananen.

she

Breakdown of Hon tar vara på den övermogna bananen.

• den: the
• bananen: the banana
• övermogen: overripe

Questions & Answers about Hon tar vara på den övermogna bananen.

Why is it tar vara på instead of just tar?

Because ta vara på is a fixed Swedish expression, often called a particle verb or multi-word verb.

In this sentence, ta vara på functions as one unit. It does not mean simply take + care + on word by word. The whole expression means something like:

• make use of
• not waste
• sometimes take care of / preserve

So in Hon tar vara på den övermogna bananen, the important thing is that tar vara på belongs together as one expression.

Why is vara left unchanged? Why not something like hon tar varar på?

Because only the finite verb changes for tense and agreement, and here that finite verb is tar from ta.

In the expression ta vara på:

• ta is the part that gets conjugated
• vara på stays the same

So you get:

• infinitive: ta vara på
• present: tar vara på
• past: tog vara på
• supine: tagit vara på

This is very common in Swedish multi-word verbs.

Why is there a den before övermogna bananen?