Volontären delar ut affischer.

Because -en is the definite singular ending for many common-gender nouns in Swedish.

So:

• en volontär = a volunteer
• volontären = the volunteer

In Swedish, definiteness is often shown by attaching the article to the end of the noun instead of using a separate word like the.

In Swedish, when a noun is definite and stands by itself, you usually do not add a separate word for the. The ending does the job.

So:

• en affisch = a poster
• affischen = the poster
• en volontär = a volunteer
• volontären = the volunteer

You normally use a separate definite word such as den or det when there is an adjective:

• volontären = the volunteer
• den snälla volontären = the kind volunteer

Delar ut is a particle verb. The basic verb is dela, which often means share, divide, or split. When you add ut, the meaning changes to hand out, give out, or distribute.

So:

• dela = divide/share
• dela ut = hand out/distribute

This is similar to English verbs like give out, hand out, or send out, where a small extra word changes the meaning.

Dela is the infinitive, like to divide or to hand out.

Delar is the present tense form:

• att dela ut = to hand out
• delar ut = hands out / is handing out

In Swedish, present tense verbs often end in -r:

• jag delar ut
• du delar ut
• han/hon delar ut

The verb form does not change for different persons the way it does in English.

It can mean either, depending on context.

Swedish present tense often covers both:

• hands out
• is handing out

So this sentence could describe:

• a general action or role
• something happening right now

You need context to know which nuance is intended.

Because affischer is indefinite plural.

In Swedish, there is:

• en affisch = a poster
• affischer = posters / some posters
• affischerna = the posters

Just like English, plural indefinite nouns often appear with no article at all. Swedish does not have a plural form of a/an.

Affischer is the indefinite plural form of affisch.

Here is the full pattern:

• en affisch = singular indefinite
• affischen = singular definite
• affischer = plural indefinite
• affischerna = plural definite

So in the sentence, affischer means posters rather than the posters.

This is the normal Swedish main-clause word order:

• Subject: Volontären
• Verb: delar
• Particle: ut
• Object: affischer

Swedish is a verb-second language in main clauses, which means the finite verb usually comes in the second position.

In this sentence, the subject comes first, so the verb naturally comes next.

For example, if you moved a time word to the front, the verb would still stay second:

• I dag delar volontären ut affischer.

That verb-second pattern is very important in Swedish.

It is a fixed verb expression, but the two parts are written as separate words: delar ut.

Learners should think of it as one unit in meaning: to hand out.

In simple sentences like this one, keep it as:

• Volontären delar ut affischer.

So yes, it is a two-word verb, but you should learn it together as vocabulary.

A rough English-friendly guide would be:

• Volontären ≈ vo-lon-TAIR-en
• delar ≈ DEH-lar
• ut ≈ oot
• affischer ≈ ah-FISH-er

A few notes:

• The stress in volontären is on the -tär- part.
• ä in -tären does not sound exactly like English air, but that is a useful approximation.
• ut has a long u sound.
• The sch sound in affisch is a Swedish sh-like sound.

Yes. That would change the meaning from the volunteer to a volunteer.

Compare:

• Volontären delar ut affischer. = The volunteer is handing out posters.
• En volontär delar ut affischer. = A volunteer is handing out posters.

So the choice depends on whether the person is specific/known (the volunteer) or not (a volunteer).