Questions & Answers about Varför landar flyget sent ikväll?
Why is the present tense verb landar used if we are asking about something happening later tonight?
In Swedish, it is very common to use a present tense verb to talk about the future, as long as you include a time word that points to the future. Here, the time word is ikväll (tonight). Because of ikväll, landar translates to 'will land' or 'is landing'.
Why is the verb landar placed before the subject flyget?
This is because of the V2 (verb-second) rule! In Swedish questions that start with a question word like varför (why), that question word takes up the first position. The verb must always come second, so landar swaps places with the subject flyget.
Why is the word for late spelled as sent instead of sen?
Here, the word 'late' is describing how the flight lands, which makes it an adverb. To make an adverb out of the adjective sen, you add a -t to the end, giving you sent.
How does the word ikväll work to mean 'tonight'?
Time expressions that mean 'this specific time period' often combine the preposition i and the noun into a single word. Ikväll translates to 'tonight' or 'this evening'. You also see this pattern in idag (today) and imorgon (tomorrow).