Breakdown of Han vill bo i staden i många år.
han
he
bo
to live
staden
the city
vilja
to want to
många
many
i
for (duration)
året
the year
Questions & Answers about Han vill bo i staden i många år.
Why doesn't the word år have a plural ending to mean "years"?
The word år (year) is an "ett" word that ends in a consonant. In Swedish, these nouns belong to Group 5 and do not change their form when they become plural. This is called a zero plural. So ett år means one year, and många år means many years.
Why is the preposition i used for "for many years"?
When you are talking about how long an action lasts, Swedish uses the preposition i. English uses "for" in these time expressions, but if you translate "for" directly, it will be incorrect in Swedish. You must use i, making it literally "in many years".
Why is the verb bo used instead of bor?
The word vill (wants to) is a helping verb. When a sentence has a helping verb, the main verb that follows must be in its base form (the infinitive). Therefore, we drop the present tense "r" and use bo instead of bor.
Is staden a plural word here?
No, staden is the singular definite form, meaning "the city". The base word is en stad (a city). To say "the city", you add the definite ending -en. The plural form for cities is actually irregular (städer).
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