Learn Swedish: Vad bakar kvinnan? - What is the woman baking?

In Swedish questions that start with a question word like vad, the verb must come exactly second. This means the sentence structure is literally "What bakes the woman?". This is called the V2 rule, meaning the verb is always in the second position.

Is the 'd' in vad pronounced?

In everyday spoken Swedish, the 'd' in vad is usually silent. You will often hear native speakers pronounce it simply as "va".

Why does bakar translate to "is baking" when there is no word for "is" in the Swedish sentence?

Swedish doesn't use a separate word for "is" or "are" when talking about actions happening right now. The single present tense verb bakar translates to both "bakes" and "is baking" in English.

How do we know kvinnan means "the woman" and not just "a woman"?

In Swedish, the word for "the" is attached to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word. The base word is kvinna (a woman), and adding -n to the end makes it kvinnan (the woman).