Breakdown of Pojken trodde alltid på spöket i det mörka huset.
huset
the house
alltid
always
pojken
the boy
i
in
Questions & Answers about Pojken trodde alltid på spöket i det mörka huset.
Why does the past tense verb trodde end in -dde instead of the usual -de?
Trodde comes from the verb tro (to believe). It belongs to Group 3, which consists of short verbs that end in a vowel other than -a in their basic form. To make the past tense (preteritum) for these short verbs, you add -dde instead of just -de.
Why do we use på for 'believe in' instead of i?
In Swedish, the specific phrase for 'believing in' something (like a ghost, a god, or an idea) is tro på. If you just use tro by itself, it usually means 'think' in the sense of guessing or having an opinion, like guessing it will rain.
How can I tell from this sentence if spöke is an en-word or an ett-word?
You can tell it is an ett-word because the definite form (the ghost) is spöket, ending in -t. If it were an en-word, it would end in -n (like pojken). Because ett spöke already ends in a vowel, it just adds -t for the definite form.
Why are there multiple markers for 'the' in det mörka huset?