Word
Han tvättar inte åttio bilar.
Meaning
He does not wash eighty cars.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about Han tvättar inte åttio bilar.
Why is there no word for "does" in this sentence?
Swedish does not use helping verbs like "do" or "does" to make a negative sentence. Instead, you just place inte right after the main verb. So, Han tvättar inte literally translates to "He washes not".
How is the number åttio usually pronounced?
In spoken Swedish, the letter o at the end of numbers like åttio (eighty) and nittio (ninety) is almost always silent. You will usually hear Swedes pronounce it as "åtti".
How do we know bilar is plural?
bilar is the plural form of the word en bil (a car). Many Swedish nouns that use en and end in a consonant make their plural by adding -ar to the end.
How can I tell that tvättar is happening right now?
In Swedish, almost all present tense verbs end in the letter r. The base form of the verb is tvätta (to wash), and adding an r makes it tvättar, which can mean either washes or is washing.