Questions & Answers about Hunden är här och den älskar fotboll.
Why does the sentence use den for "it"? Shouldn't "it" be det?
Because "it" refers back to hunden (the dog), which is an en word (en hund). In Swedish, when "it" replaces an en word, you must use den. If it replaced an ett word, like ett hus (a house), you would use det.
How does the verb älskar (loves) fit into the Group 1 verbs we are learning?
You can spot a Group 1 verb in the present tense by its -ar ending. For these regular verbs, the infinitive (the dictionary "to" form) always ends in -a, like att älska (to love). To make it present tense, you simply add an -r, giving you älskar.
Where is the article for fotboll? Shouldn't it be en fotboll?
Since the dog loves the sport of football in general, we drop the article here, exactly like in English ("loves football"). If the dog loved a specific physical ball to chew on, you would say it loves en fotboll (a football).
How does the word hunden show us that "dog" is an en word?