Breakdown of Hon är ett barn och spelar fotboll.
vara
to be
ett
a, an (neuter)
barnet
the child
hon
she
spela
to play
fotboll
football
och
and
Questions & Answers about Hon är ett barn och spelar fotboll.
Why is it ett barn and not en barn?
In Swedish, nouns belong to one of two gender groups: en words or ett words. barn (child) happens to be an ett word, so it takes the article ett (a/an). There is no strict rule for which group a word belongs to, so it is best to memorize the article when you learn a new noun.
The verb spelar ends in -ar. Is that how most Swedish verbs work?
Yes! spela (to play) is a regular Group 1 verb. To make it present tense (meaning 'plays' or 'is playing'), you just add an -r to the dictionary form, making it spelar. This -ar pattern is the most common way to form the present tense in Swedish.
Why does the sentence say och spelar instead of och hon spelar?
Just like in English, if the subject is the same for both actions (she is a child, and she plays football), you do not have to repeat the pronoun after och (and). Saying och hon spelar fotboll is also correct, but dropping the second hon sounds very natural.
Why isn't there an article like en or ett before fotboll?
Just like in English, you do not use an article when talking about playing a sport in general. You say 'plays football', not 'plays a football', so in Swedish it is simply spelar fotboll.
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