Word
Pojken är elva år.
Meaning
The boy is eleven years old.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Pojken är elva år.
Why does pojken mean 'the boy' instead of just 'boy'?
The Swedish word for 'a boy' is en pojke. To make it 'the boy', Swedish attaches the article to the end of the word instead of putting a word in front. Because pojke already ends in a vowel, we just add -n to the end to make pojken.
Doesn't år mean 'year'? Why is it used for the plural 'years' here?
Yes, ett år means 'a year'. In Swedish, if a noun is an ett word and ends in a consonant (like år), the plural form is exactly the same as the singular. So ett år is one year, and elva år is eleven years.
Where is the word for 'old' in this sentence?
In English you say someone is eleven years 'old', but in Swedish it is perfectly natural and complete to just say they are eleven years (elva år). You can add gammal (old) at the end, making it elva år gammal, but leaving it out is very common.