Questions & Answers about Varför skrattar deras kollegor?
Does deras change depending on the noun after it, like min and din do?
Why is kollegor in the indefinite form if we are talking about specific colleagues?
In Swedish, a noun that comes immediately after a possessive pronoun like deras must always be in the indefinite form. So, you use the basic plural kollegor (colleagues) rather than the definite form kollegorna (the colleagues).
Why is there no word for "are" in this sentence?
Swedish doesn't have a direct equivalent to the English "are doing" or "-ing" continuous form. The single present tense verb skrattar covers both "laugh" and "are laughing". You never translate the "are" separately here.
Why does the verb skrattar come before the subject deras kollegor?
This is because of the V2 (verb-second) rule, which says the main verb must be the second grammatical piece of a main clause. Since the question word varför (why) takes the first position, the verb skrattar must immediately follow it. It literally translates to "Why laugh their colleagues?"
Learn Varför skrattar deras kollegor and more in Swedish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free