Breakdown of Flickan tar gaffeln från bordet.
bordet
the table
flickan
the girl
från
from
ta
to take
gaffeln
the fork
Questions & Answers about Flickan tar gaffeln från bordet.
Why is the word for 'the fork' gaffeln and not gaffelen?
The root word is gaffel (a fork). It is an en-word, so normally we would add -en to make it definite ('the fork'). However, when a word ends in an unstressed -el (like gaffel), we drop that extra e before adding the suffix so we avoid an awkward extra syllable. That is why gaffel plus the suffix becomes gaffeln.
Why does flickan only have an -n at the end instead of -en?
The word for girl is flicka. It is an en-word, but since it already ends in a vowel, we just add -n to make it definite ('the girl'). If we added the full -en, it would become flickaen, which is harder to pronounce.
Why does bordet end in -et instead of -en?
Bord (table) is an ett-word. While en-words usually take -en or -n to mean 'the', ett-words take -et or -t at the end. So ett bord means 'a table', and bordet means 'the table'.
Can tar mean 'is taking' as well as 'takes'?
Yes! Swedish does not have a separate 'is doing' form (present continuous) like English does. Flickan tar means both 'The girl takes' and 'The girl is taking' depending on the context.
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