Hyreskontraktet är skriftligt.

Swedish very often forms compound nouns by writing them as a single word.

• hyres- = rental / rent-related
• kontrakt = contract

So hyreskontrakt means rental contract or lease agreement.

Then Swedish adds the definite ending -et to the whole noun:

• ett hyreskontrakt = a rental contract
• hyreskontraktet = the rental contract

This is very normal in Swedish. Where English often uses several words, Swedish often prefers one compound word.

The ending -et is the definite article attached to the noun. It means the.

So:

• ett hyreskontrakt = a rental contract
• hyreskontraktet = the rental contract

In Swedish, the definite article is often put at the end of the noun instead of being a separate word before it.

Because kontrakt is an ett-word (a neuter noun), its definite singular ending is -et.

Because Swedish usually expresses definiteness by adding a suffix to the noun.

Compare:

• English: the contract
• Swedish: kontraktet

This is one of the biggest structural differences from English. In this sentence, hyreskontraktet already includes the meaning of the rental contract, so no separate the is needed.

är is the present tense of the verb vara, which means to be.

So:

• jag är = I am
• du är = you are
• han/hon är = he/she is
• det är = it is
• de är = they are

Unlike English, Swedish uses the same present-tense form är for all persons.

Because skriftlig is an adjective, and in this sentence it must agree with the noun it describes.

The noun is hyreskontraktet, and the base noun hyreskontrakt is an ett-word. For an ett-word in the singular, the adjective usually takes -t in this kind of sentence.

So:

• en ansökan är skriftlig = an application is written / in writing
• ett kontrakt är skriftligt = a contract is written / in writing

That is why we get:

• Hyreskontraktet är skriftligt.

Here it is an adjective, not an adverb.

It describes the noun hyreskontraktet through the verb är:

• Hyreskontraktet = the rental contract
• är skriftligt = is written / is in writing

This is called a predicative adjective: the adjective comes after a verb like är and describes the subject.

It may look adverb-like to an English speaker because of the -t, but here it is definitely an adjective agreeing with a neuter noun.

It usually means written or in writing, depending on context.

For this sentence, Hyreskontraktet är skriftligt, the idea is that the rental contract is in written form, not just spoken.

So possible English translations include:

• The rental contract is written.
• The rental contract is in writing.

In legal or formal contexts, in writing is often the most natural English interpretation.

Because after är, Swedish uses the predicative form of the adjective, not the attributive definite form.

Compare these two patterns:

1. Attributive adjective (before the noun)

   • det skriftliga hyreskontraktet = the written rental contract

2. Predicative adjective (after är)

   • hyreskontraktet är skriftligt = the rental contract is written / in writing

So even though hyreskontraktet is definite, the adjective after är is still skriftligt, not skriftliga.

The dictionary form is skriftlig.

This is the common-gender singular form, which is usually how adjectives are listed in dictionaries.

Here are the main forms:

• skriftlig = common gender singular
• skriftligt = neuter singular
• skriftliga = plural and also definite attributive form

So in this sentence, the dictionary form is skriftlig, but the correct form in context is skriftligt.

Yes:

• Hyreskontraktet = the rental contract / the lease agreement
• är = is
• skriftligt = written / in writing

So the structure is:

• Subject: Hyreskontraktet
• Verb: är
• Predicate adjective: skriftligt

This is a very typical Swedish sentence pattern.

No, this is the normal basic Swedish word order for a simple statement:

Subject + verb + complement

So:

• Hyreskontraktet = subject
• är = verb
• skriftligt = complement

This is the same broad pattern as English The rental contract is written.

Yes, but it means something slightly different.

• Hyreskontraktet är skriftligt specifically says the rental contract is in writing.
• Det är skriftligt means It is in writing or That is in writing.

So det is more general and depends on context, while hyreskontraktet clearly names the thing being talked about.

In the plural, both the noun and the adjective change:

• Hyreskontrakten är skriftliga. = The rental contracts are written / in writing.

Here:

• hyreskontrakten = the rental contracts
• skriftliga = plural form of the adjective

So the adjective agreement is:

• singular common gender: skriftlig
• singular neuter: skriftligt
• plural: skriftliga

Kontrakt is an ett-word.

So you say:

• ett kontrakt = a contract
• kontraktet = the contract

Because hyreskontrakt is built on kontrakt, it is also an ett-word:

• ett hyreskontrakt
• hyreskontraktet

That is also why the adjective becomes skriftligt with -t.

They are related, but not identical in form.

• hyra is the basic noun/verb form connected with rent
• hyres- is a common compound form meaning rental- or rent-related

You see it in words like:

• hyreskontrakt = rental contract
• hyresgäst = tenant
• hyresrätt = rental apartment / tenancy

So hyres- is a very common element in housing-related vocabulary.

A rough guide for an English speaker is:

HY-res-kon-trak-tet air SKRIFT-ligt

A few useful notes:

• hy in hyres- does not sound exactly like English hy
• är sounds somewhat like air, but not exactly
• sk before certain vowels in Swedish can be tricky, but in skriftligt it is a hard sk sound
• the stress is mainly on the first part of hyreskontraktet and on skrift- in skriftligt

If you want, I can also give a more detailed pronunciation guide using either IPA or simple English-style sound approximations.