Learn Hardcore Swedish: De nya tröjorna är dyra, men byxorna var ganska billiga. - The new sweaters are expensive, but the trousers were quite cheap.

In the sentence De nya tröjorna är dyra, men byxorna var ganska billiga, de is the subject of the sentence (they, meaning the new sweaters), so the correct written form is de.

Spoken version: you will usually hear Dom nya tröjorna är dyra..., but you should still write de in standard Swedish.

Why is it nya and not ny in de nya tröjorna?

Ny is the base form of the adjective new.

Swedish adjectives change form depending on gender, number, and definiteness. For plural or definite nouns, the adjective usually ends in -a:

en ny tröja – a new sweater (singular, common gender, indefinite)
ett nytt hus – a new house (singular, neuter, indefinite)
nya tröjor – new sweaters (plural, indefinite)
de nya tröjorna – the new sweaters (plural, definite)

In de nya tröjorna, the noun is plural definite, so the adjective must be nya.

Why is it tröjorna and not just tröjor?

Tröjor means sweaters (plural, indefinite).
Tröjorna means the sweaters (plural, definite).

Swedish often puts “the” at the end of the noun as a suffix:

en tröja – a sweater
tröjan – the sweater
flera tröjor – several sweaters
tröjorna – the sweaters

Because the English meaning is “the new sweaters are expensive”, Swedish needs the definite plural form tröjorna.

Why is the word order De nya tröjorna (pronoun + adjective + noun) and not something else?

The normal order for a noun phrase in Swedish is:

[determiner/pronoun] + [adjective] + [noun]

So:

de nya tröjorna = the new sweaters
- de – determiner (they / those / the)
- nya – adjective (new)
- tröjorna – noun (the sweaters)

This is similar to English the new sweaters, where the + new + sweaters has the same kind of structure.

Why is it är dyra but var ganska billiga? Why two different verb forms?

Är and var are two different tenses of to be:

är = present tense (am / is / are)
var = past tense (was / were)

The sentence contrasts the current situation with a past situation:

De nya tröjorna är dyra – The new sweaters are expensive (now).
men byxorna var ganska billiga – but the pants were quite cheap (when we bought them / at that time).

So the tense changes because we’re talking about now for the sweaters and then (past) for the pants.

Why do dyra and billiga end in -a instead of dyr and billig?

Adjectives in Swedish agree with the noun (or subject) in number and definiteness.

For plural subjects, the adjective takes the -a form, both before the noun and after är/var:

De nya tröjorna är dyra.
- tröjorna is plural → adjective form dyra
Byxorna var ganska billiga.
- byxorna is plural → adjective form billiga

Compare with singular:

Tröjan är dyr. – The sweater is expensive.
Byxan är billig. – The (one) pair of pants is cheap.

So: plural → dyra / billiga; singular → dyr / billig (for common-gender nouns in indefinite form).

Why is it byxorna and not something like byxor or en byxa?

The noun byxor (pants) is one of those Swedish nouns that is almost always used in the plural, just like pants in English.

Forms:

byxor – pants (plural, indefinite)
byxorna – the pants (plural, definite)

There is a singular form en byxa (one pant leg), but that is rare in normal use. Because the meaning here is “the pants were quite cheap”, Swedish uses the definite plural form byxorna.

Why is there no separate word for “the” before byxorna or tröjorna?

Swedish does not usually use a separate word like the in front of a noun. Instead, it puts a definite ending on the noun:

For en-words (common gender):

en tröja – a sweater
tröjan – the sweater
tröjor – sweaters
tröjorna – the sweaters

For byxor (always plural in normal use):

byxor – pants
byxorna – the pants

So tröjorna and byxorna already contain the meaning of “the”.

What does ganska really mean here? Is it quite, rather, or pretty?

Ganska is a degree adverb that usually means fairly, quite, or rather. It weakens the adjective a bit, but not too much.

Examples:

ganska dyr – quite expensive / rather expensive
ganska billig – fairly cheap / pretty cheap

In byxorna var ganska billiga, ganska suggests that the pants were noticeably cheap, but not extremely cheap. It’s a moderate, slightly softening word.

Is the word order after men (but) special in Swedish?

In this sentence, men is a coordinating conjunction, just like but in English.

The word order after men is just normal main-clause word order:

Men byxorna var ganska billiga.
- byxorna – subject
- var – verb
- ganska billiga – predicate (adverb + adjective)

So you don’t invert the subject and verb because of men.
You do not say something like “men var byxorna ganska billiga” here; that would sound wrong in this context.

Why do the adjectives after är/var also take the -a plural form?

In Swedish, adjectives agree with the noun (or pronoun) even when they come after the verb (in a predicate position).

De nya tröjorna är dyra.
- subject de / tröjorna = plural
- adjective dyr → dyra
Byxorna var ganska billiga.
- subject byxorna = plural
- adjective billig → billiga

Compare with singular:

Tröjan är dyr. – The sweater is expensive.
Byxan är billig. – The (one) pant is cheap.

So: predicate adjectives (after är/var/blir etc.) still need to match the subject in number and definiteness.

How are the tricky words here pronounced, especially de, tröjorna, and byxorna?

Approximate pronunciations:

de – usually pronounced /dom/ in everyday speech (like “dom” in English); in very careful speech you might hear /deː/.
tröjorna – /ˈtrøːjɔrna/
- tröj- like German “Trö-”, with a rounded ö sound
- -or- like a short o
- stress on the first syllable: TRÖ-jor-na
byxorna – /ˈbʏksɔrna/
- byx- with y = a front, rounded vowel, between i and u
- -or- again a short o
- stress on BYX-: BYX-or-na

The important takeaway: in real spoken Swedish this whole sentence will almost always start with Dom nya tröjorna..., even though it is written De nya tröjorna....