Rostskadan förstör bilen.

the car

Breakdown of Rostskadan förstör bilen.

• rostskadan: the rust damage
• förstöra: to destroy; ruin

Questions & Answers about Rostskadan förstör bilen.

Why is rostskadan one word? Shouldn’t it be something like rust damage with two words?

In Swedish, compound nouns are usually written as one word.

So:

• rost = rust
• skada = damage
• rostskada = rust damage

Then rostskadan means the rust damage.

This is very common in Swedish. English often uses two words where Swedish prefers one compound word.

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What does the ending -n in rostskadan mean?

The -n is the definite ending, meaning the.

• en rostskada = a rust damage / rust damage
• rostskadan = the rust damage

Swedish usually adds definiteness to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like English the.

Because rostskada is an en-word, its singular definite form is rostskadan.

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Why is it bilen and not en bil?

Because bilen means the car, while en bil means a car.

• en bil = a car
• bilen = the car

In this sentence, the noun is definite, so Swedish uses the ending -en:

• bil → bilen

So the sentence is specifically talking about the car, not just any car.

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