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Questions & Answers about Familjen behöver telefonen.
Why does behöver end in -er instead of -ar?
Behöver (needs) belongs to Group 2 of regular Swedish verbs. While Group 1 verbs take -ar in the present tense, Group 2 verbs take -er. To form it, you take the dictionary form behöva, drop the final -a, and add -er.
Why do both familjen and telefonen end in -en?
Both familj (family) and telefon (phone) are en-words in Swedish (en familj, en telefon). To make an en-word definite (meaning "the" family instead of "a" family), you simply attach -en to the end of the noun.
Since familjen represents a group of people, does the verb change to a plural form?
No, and this makes Swedish verbs very easy! Verbs never change their form based on who or how many people are doing the action. It is always behöver, whether it is "I need", "we need", or "the family needs".
Can I use behöver before an action, like "needs to call", as well as before an object?
Yes! Just like in English, you can use behöver right before a noun (like telefonen in this sentence) or right before another verb in its dictionary form, such as behöver ringa (needs to call).