Questions & Answers about På vintern är det ofta kallt.
Why is the definite form of winter vintern and not vinteren?
The dictionary form is en vinter. When an en-word ends in an unstressed "-el", "-er", or "-en", we drop the extra "e" when adding the definite ending so it doesn't sound too clunky. Instead of the awkward vinteren, we just add an "-n" to make it vintern.
Why do we use the preposition på to say "in" the winter?
When talking about seasons in a general or recurring way, Swedish uses på (which normally means "on"). So "in winter" or "during the winter" translates to the set phrase på vintern.
Why are the verb and subject swapped? (Why är det instead of det är?)
This is the Swedish V2 rule in action! The verb must be the second main piece of information in a statement. Because we started the sentence with the time phrase På vintern (Position 1), the verb är has to come right after it (Position 2). This pushes the subject det to the other side of the verb.
Why does kallt have a "t" at the end here?
Adjectives change their ending to match the word they describe. Because we are talking about the weather, we use the generic "it", which is det in Swedish. Since det is a neuter word, we have to add a "-t" to the basic adjective kall (cold) to make it kallt.