Breakdown of Kvinnan var trettio år gammal.
vara
to be
kvinnan
the woman
året
the year
gammal
old
trettio
thirty
Questions & Answers about Kvinnan var trettio år gammal.
Why does the word for woman end with '-n' in kvinnan?
In Swedish, the word 'the' is added to the end of the noun instead of being a separate word before it. The base word is kvinna (a woman), and adding -n makes it kvinnan (the woman).
Does the verb var (was) change depending on who we are talking about?
No, Swedish verbs are very friendly! They never change based on the subject. Whether it is I was (jag var), she was (hon var), or they were (de var), the word is always var.
Why doesn't the word år have a plural ending to mean 'years'?
År is an 'ett' word (a neuter noun) that ends in a consonant. In Swedish, this specific group of words looks exactly the same in the plural as they do in the singular. So, ett år means one year, and trettio år means thirty years.
Would the word gammal (old) change if we were talking about a child or multiple people?
Yes, adjectives in Swedish have to match the noun they describe. Because kvinnan is a singular 'en' word, we use the basic form gammal. If we were talking about a child (an 'ett' word like barnet), it would become gammalt. If we were talking about multiple women, it would become gamla.
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