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Hon försöker beskriva regnbågen i ett brev till sin morfar.

Hon försöker beskriva regnbågen i ett brev till sin morfar.
She tries to describe the rainbow in a letter to her grandfather.
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Questions & Answers about Hon försöker beskriva regnbågen i ett brev till sin morfar.

Why is it sin morfar and not hennes morfar?

Swedish has reflexive possessive pronouns: sin, sitt, sina.

  • sin / sitt / sina refer back to the subject of the clause.
  • hans / hennes / deras refer to someone else, not the subject.

In the sentence:

  • Subject: Hon (she)
  • Possession: morfar (grandfather)
  • Owner of morfar is the same as the subject (it’s her own grandfather)

So Swedish must use sin morfar.

If you said hennes morfar, it would normally mean someone else’s grandfather (her, but not the subject’s own).

What exactly does morfar mean? Is it just “grandfather”?

Swedish is more precise than English here:

  • morfar = mother’s father (maternal grandfather)
    • mor = mother
    • far = father
  • farfar = father’s father (paternal grandfather)

So morfar is specifically maternal grandfather, not just any grandfather in general.

Why is it försöker beskriva and not försöker att beskriva?

In Swedish, some verbs take an infinitive without att (to).
Försöka (“to try”) is one of them in modern, natural Swedish.

So:

  • Hon försöker beskriva… = She is trying to describe… ✅
  • Hon försöker att beskriva… is possible but sounds more formal or old‑fashioned, and is much less common in everyday speech.
Why is försöker in the present tense when in English we say “is trying”?

Swedish usually uses a simple present for both:

  • English “she tries” and “she is trying”
    → Swedish: Hon försöker

Context tells you whether it’s a general habit or something happening now.
Here it means she is currently in the process of trying – but grammar-wise it’s just simple present in Swedish.

Why is it beskriva and not beskriver?

Beskriva is the infinitive form (“to describe”).
Beskriver is the present tense (“describes”).

After a verb like försöker (tries), Swedish normally uses an infinitive:

  • försöker beskriva = tries to describe (tries describing)
  • Using försöker beskriver would be incorrect.
Why is it regnbågen and not just regnbåge?

Regnbåge = a rainbow
Regnbågen = the rainbow (definite form)

Swedish often uses a definite form when you are talking about a specific, known thing, just like English uses “the”:

  • Hon försöker beskriva regnbågen…
    = She’s trying to describe the rainbow (probably one particular rainbow she saw).

Grammatically:

  • en regnbåge (indefinite, “a rainbow”)
  • regnbågen (definite singular, “the rainbow”)
What grammatical gender is regnbåge and how is its definite form built?

Regnbåge is an en-word (common gender):

  • Indefinite: en regnbåge (a rainbow)
  • Definite: regnbågen (the rainbow)

Pattern:

  • en X → Xen (add -n or -en, often with minor vowel changes in other words, but not here).
Why is it i ett brev and not something like på ett brev?

The Swedish preposition i is used like English “in” for things inside something:

  • i ett brev = in a letter (the description is contained in the letter)

På often corresponds to “on / at” and would sound wrong here.
So you write something i ett brev, i ett mejl, i en dagbok (in a diary), etc.

Why do we say ett brev and not en brev?

Swedish nouns have two genders:

  • en-words (common gender)
  • ett-words (neuter)

Brev is a neuter noun:

  • ett brev = a letter
  • brevet = the letter

You simply have to memorize the gender with each noun; there’s no reliable rule that predicts it here.

What form is brevet and how would the sentence change with it?

Brevet is the definite singular of brev:

  • ett brev = a letter
  • brevet = the letter

If you said:

  • Hon försöker beskriva regnbågen i brevet till sin morfar.

then it would mean:

  • She is trying to describe the rainbow in the letter to her grandfather
    → referring to one particular letter both speaker and listener already know about.
How is försöker formed from försöka?

Försöka is the infinitive “to try”.
Present tense for regular -a verbs is usually built by replacing -a with -ar or -er.

Here:

  • Infinitive: försöka
  • Present: försöker (she/he/they try, are trying)

It’s the same form for all persons:

  • jag försöker
  • du försöker
  • hon/han försöker
  • vi försöker, etc.
Can you explain the pronunciation of å, ä, and ö in this sentence?

In the words:

  • regnbågen – å is like the vowel in English “haul” or “law” (but usually a bit shorter).
  • morfar – o here is like English “oo” in “more” but shorter / more closed in many accents.
  • försöker – ö is a rounded vowel with no exact English equivalent; think of the vowel in British “sir”, but with rounded lips.
  • ä (not in this sentence but common in Swedish) is often like “e” in “bed”.

So:

  • regn‑BÅ‑gen
  • MOR‑far (maternal granddad)
  • för‑SÖ‑ker
Why is the subject Hon and not something like Henne?

Swedish, like English, has different forms for subject and object pronouns.

  • Subject: hon = she
  • Object: henne = her (object form)

In this sentence, “she” is the one doing the action, so Swedish uses the subject form:

  • Hon försöker beskriva… = She is trying to describe…

You would use henne as an object, for example:

  • Jag ser henne. = I see her.