Breakdown of Vi sätter oss på balkongen.
vi
we
på
on / at / for (wait for) / in (believe in)
balkongen
the balcony
sätta sig
to sit down
Questions & Answers about Vi sätter oss på balkongen.
Why do we use 'sätter oss' here instead of just 'sitter'?
In Swedish, there is a strict difference between the action of sitting down and the state of being seated. sitter means you are already sitting. To express the action of taking a seat, you use the reflexive verb sätta sig (literally 'to set oneself'). Since the subject is vi (we), the pronoun matches it and becomes oss (ourselves).
Does 'oss' always mean 'ourselves'?
When used with a reflexive verb like this, oss translates to 'ourselves'. However, oss is also the normal object pronoun for 'us' (for example, 'he sees us' is han ser oss). While third-person subjects get a special reflexive pronoun (sig), vi simply reuses its normal object pronoun oss for reflexive actions.
Why is 'balkongen' one word if it translates to 'the balcony'?
In Swedish, the word for 'the' is usually a suffix attached to the end of the noun rather than a separate word. The base word is en balkong (a balcony). To say 'the balcony', you add -en to the end, making it balkongen. This is a great refresher of how definite nouns work in Swedish!
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