Breakdown of Har ni er dator?
ni
you (plural, subject)
ha
to have
datorn
the computer
er
your (plural; er/ert/era)
Questions & Answers about Har ni er dator?
Why does this use er for "your" instead of din?
In Swedish, the word for "your" changes depending on whether you are talking to one person or multiple people. Because the sentence uses ni (you, plural), we must use the plural "your", which is er (or ert/era). If you were asking just one person, it would be: Har du din dator?
How do we know to use er instead of ert or era?
Possessive pronouns must match the gender and number of the noun they describe. The word dator (computer) is a singular en-word (a common gender noun). Therefore, we use the singular en-word form, er. If you were talking about an ett-word, you would use ert, and if you were talking about multiple computers, you would use era datorer.
Why is the noun dator in its basic form and not datorn?
In Swedish, whenever you use a possessive pronoun like min, din, or er, the noun that follows it must be in the indefinite (basic) form. Even though you are talking about a specific computer, you always say er dator, never er datorn.
Why does the sentence start with Har?