Questions & Answers about Är det Tomas kamera?
Why doesn't Tomas have an apostrophe or an extra 's' for the possessive?
In English, we write "Tomas's" or "Tomas'". In Swedish, the possessive is normally just an added -s with no apostrophe. However, if a name already ends in -s, -x, or -z (like Tomas), Swedish doesn't add anything at all. The name just stays exactly the same!
Why is it kamera instead of kameran?
In Swedish, after a possessive word—whether it is a pronoun like min (my) or a name acting as an owner like Tomas—the noun must be in its indefinite (base) form. We never use the "the" form after an owner, so it stays as Tomas kamera.
Since kamera is an en-word, why does the sentence say Är det instead of Är den?
When you use "it is" or "is it" to point out or identify what a thing is, Swedish uses the fixed phrase det är (or är det for a question). You use det here as a generic "this/it", no matter if the following noun is an en-word or an ett-word.
How do we know this is a question if there are no question words?
Swedish makes yes/no questions simply by swapping the verb and the subject. The regular statement is Det är (It is). By putting the verb first to make Är det, it automatically turns into a question.
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