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Questions & Answers about Vem är mannen?
Why do we use vem in this sentence instead of vad?
Vem means "who" and is only used to ask about people. The other question words in this lesson, vad and var, mean "what" and "where".
Is the word order in this question exactly the same as in English?
Yes! Just like "Who is...?", the verb (är) comes right after the question word (vem). This follows the Swedish "V2 rule", which means the verb is usually the second piece of information in the sentence.
Why does mannen have a double 'n' in the middle?
The word for "a man" is en man. To say "the" in Swedish, you add an ending (like -en) to the noun. But because man is a short word ending in a single consonant, Swedish doubles the last consonant before adding the ending to keep the "a" sound short. So, man + n + en = mannen.
How is är usually pronounced in everyday conversation?
In casual spoken Swedish, the word är is very often shortened to just sound like "e" (rhyming with the "e" in "pet"). You will often hear this sentence pronounced as "Vem e mannen?".