Questions & Answers about Var kan vi se djur?
Why doesn't the word djur have a plural ending like -ar or -er?
Djur belongs to a group of Swedish nouns often called Group 5. These are ett words that end in a consonant. The special rule for these words is that they look exactly the same in the singular and the indefinite plural! So, ett djur means "an animal", and flera djur means "several animals". In this sentence, it just means "animals" in general.
Why is the word order kan vi instead of vi kan?
Swedish uses the V2 rule, meaning the verb must be the second block of information in the sentence. Because the question word Var takes up the first spot, the verb kan has to come right after it. So, "Where can we" translates directly to Var kan vi.
Why do we use se instead of the present tense ser?
We use the basic dictionary form (the infinitive) se because it comes after the helper verb kan (can). Just like in English where we say "can see" instead of "can sees", Swedish pairs the helper verb kan with the basic form se.
Could we use vart instead of var for "where" in this sentence?
No, because var means "where at" (a static location), while vart means "where to" (a direction or destination). Since we are asking about the location where the seeing will happen, rather than travelling towards a destination, we must use var.
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