Questions & Answers about Den femte gästen är här.
Why is it 'Den ... gästen'? Doesn't that mean 'The ... the guest'?
Yes, literally it translates to 'The fifth the guest'. This is a very common Swedish grammar pattern called the 'double definite'. When a noun has a descriptive word in front of it (like the number femte), you must use both the separate 'the' word (Den, Det, or De) and the definite ending attached to the noun (-en in gästen).
How do you make ordinal numbers like 'femte' (fifth) in Swedish?
For most numbers from 3 to 10, you simply add -te to the regular number. So fem (five) becomes femte (fifth). Words like sju (seven) become sjunde, which is a slight exception, but femte is perfectly regular.
If the noun was an 'ett' word instead of an 'en' word, would 'femte' change its ending?
No. Unlike regular adjectives (which usually take an -a at the end when used with 'the'), ordinal numbers like femte never change their form. If it were an ett-word, say barnet (the child), it would just be Det femte barnet.
Why doesn't 'gästen' sound like it starts with a hard 'g' like the English word 'guest'?