Breakdown of Hotellet är fullt av turister på sommaren, men på vintern är det lugnt.
Questions & Answers about Hotellet är fullt av turister på sommaren, men på vintern är det lugnt.
Swedish normally shows definiteness with an ending on the noun instead of a separate word like the.
- hotell = a hotel / hotels (indefinite)
- ett hotell = a hotel (explicitly singular, indefinite)
- hotellet = the hotel (definite singular)
In this sentence we are talking about a specific hotel (the one we have in mind), so Swedish uses the definite form hotellet.
The form of the adjective agrees with the grammatical gender and number of the noun.
- hotell is an ett-word (neuter gender).
- For a neuter singular noun, the adjective usually takes a -t ending in predicative position:
- hotellet är fullt
- rummet är stort
- huset är gammalt
If the noun were a common-gender (en) word, you’d get the base form:
- restaurangen är full (the restaurant is full).
So är fullt is required here because hotellet is an ett-word.
All of these are possible, but they don’t mean exactly the same thing.
- fullt av turister – very natural and common; means full of tourists in general, no focus on which specific tourists.
- fullt med turister – also correct and common; in many contexts it’s nearly the same as fullt av turister, though some speakers feel med can sound a bit more neutral / descriptive, and av slightly stronger / more “packed”.
- fullt av turisterna – full of the tourists (a specific group already known from context). This would refer to some particular tourists you have in mind, not just tourists in general.
In the original sentence, we mean tourists in general during summer, so fullt av turister is the most natural choice.
Swedish does not use any article in the indefinite plural:
- en turist = a tourist
- turister = tourists (no article)
- turisterna = the tourists
In this sentence, turister refers to tourists in general, not to some particular tourists you already know about, so the indefinite plural turister without any article is used.
For seasons in the general / habitual sense, Swedish normally uses:
- på
- definite singular:
- på sommaren – in (the) summer / in summer (generally)
- på vintern – in (the) winter / in winter
- på hösten, på våren
- definite singular:
Some contrasts:
- i sommar (no -en) = this coming summer (a specific future summer).
- på sommar – not idiomatic in standard Swedish.
- i sommaren – ungrammatical in this meaning.
So på sommaren is the standard way to say in summer when talking about a recurring, general situation.
Swedish often uses the definite form of season nouns to talk about things that are typically or habitually true in that season:
- på sommaren badar vi ofta – in (the) summer we often swim
- på vintern är det mörkt – in (the) winter it’s dark
This doesn’t usually refer to one specific, particular summer or winter; it has a generic meaning: every summer / in general during summer. Using the definite form is simply the normal pattern with seasons in this kind of statement.
Yes, that is completely correct and very natural:
- Hotellet är fullt av turister på sommaren.
- På sommaren är hotellet fullt av turister.
Swedish has a V2 word order rule: the finite verb (är) must be in second position in main clauses. When you move på sommaren to the front, the verb stays second and the subject hotellet moves after the verb:
- På sommaren (1) är (2) hotellet (3) fullt av turister …
In Swedish, it is normal to put a comma before the conjunction men (but) when it connects two main clauses:
- Hotellet är fullt av turister på sommaren, men på vintern är det lugnt.
Each side could stand as a sentence on its own:
- Hotellet är fullt av turister på sommaren.
- På vintern är det lugnt.
Because these are two independent clauses joined by men, standard writing uses a comma before men.
Swedish main clauses normally need an explicit subject. You can’t leave that position empty the way English sometimes can.
- English can say: “In winter, Ø is quiet.” (with an implied it)
- Swedish must say: På vintern är det lugnt.
Here det is a dummy (expletive) subject, similar to English “it” in “It is raining” or “It is quiet here.” It refers to the general situation (the situation at the hotel in winter), not to some specific neuter noun mentioned right before.
The form lugnt here is the neuter/adverbial form of the adjective lugn (calm, quiet).
There are two reasons for the -t:
It agrees with det, which is grammatically neuter:
- Det är lugnt.
- Det är kallt.
- Det är mörkt.
When describing a general situation with det är …, Swedish often uses the -t form almost like an adverb, similar to English “it is quiet / calm here” – describing how things are, not giving an attribute to a specific noun.
If you describe a common-gender noun directly, you’d use the base form:
- Staden är lugn på vintern. – The city is quiet in winter.
Yes, that is also grammatically correct:
- På vintern är hotellet lugnt.
The nuance is slightly different:
- På vintern är det lugnt. – more like “In winter, it’s quiet (there / at the hotel)”, focusing on the general situation or atmosphere.
- På vintern är hotellet lugnt. – explicitly says that the hotel itself is quiet, still fine, but a bit more explicitly tied to the noun.
In everyday speech, Det är lugnt is very common when talking about an overall atmosphere.
No, that would be ungrammatical in standard Swedish. A main clause needs a subject, and here:
- You either use det as a dummy subject:
- … men på vintern är det lugnt.
- Or you make a real subject explicit:
- … men på vintern är hotellet lugnt.
You can’t have … är lugnt without any subject at all.