Delbetalningen minskar skulden.

The installment payment decreases the debt.

Breakdown of Delbetalningen minskar skulden.

• minska: to reduce
• skulden: the debt
• delbetalningen: the installment payment

Questions & Answers about Delbetalningen minskar skulden.

What is delbetalningen made up of?

It is a compound noun:

• del = part
• betalning = payment

So delbetalning means something like partial payment or installment payment.

Then the ending -en is added to make it definite:

• en delbetalning = a partial payment / an installment payment
• delbetalningen = the partial payment / the installment payment

Swedish uses compound nouns very freely, much more than English.

Why does delbetalningen end in -en?

Because Swedish often puts the definite article on the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the.

Here the base noun is:

• en delbetalning = an installment payment

Its definite singular form is:

• delbetalningen = the installment payment

So -en here is the definite ending for a common-gender noun.

Why does skulden also end in -en?

For the same reason: skuld is also a common-gender noun.

• en skuld = a debt
• skulden = the debt

So the sentence uses two definite nouns:

• delbetalningen = the installment payment
• skulden = the debt

In Swedish, this is completely normal. You do not need a separate word for the in these simple cases.