Breakdown of De nya stolarna är mycket dyra.
vara
to be
mycket
much / very
stolen
the chair
dyr
expensive
ny
new
de
the (plural, before adjective)
Questions & Answers about De nya stolarna är mycket dyra.
How do you pronounce the word De in this sentence?
In spoken Swedish, De is almost always pronounced as dom. You will see de in writing, but you should say dom.
Why does the word for chairs (stolarna) have the definite ending -na if we already used De (the)?
This is a classic Swedish rule called the double definite. When you have a specific noun (the chairs) combined with an adjective (new), you must use both the front article (De) and the noun's ending (-na). Literally, it translates to "The new the chairs".
Why is it nya and not just ny?
In Swedish, adjectives must match the noun they describe. Because stolarna is plural (more than one chair), you add an -a to the end of the adjective ny to make it nya. You also use this -a ending when describing definite (specific) nouns.
Doesn't mycket normally mean "much" or "a lot"?
Yes, mycket often means "much" or "a lot" when talking about amounts. However, when it is placed directly before an adjective like dyra (expensive), it translates to "very".
Why does dyra also end in an -a?
Just like nya, the adjective dyr (expensive) gets an -a added to it because it describes a plural subject (stolarna). It doesn't matter that the verb är (are) comes between them; the adjective still has to match the noun.
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