Learn Swedish: Vilken sal visade guiden? - Which hall did the guide show?

Vilken means 'which' and acts like a determiner, changing its ending based on the noun it describes. Because sal (hall) is an en-word (en sal), we use Vilken. If it were an ett-word like rum (room), it would be Vilket rum. For plural, it would be Vilka.

Why is sal in the indefinite form here?

In Swedish, the question word vilken must be followed by a noun in the indefinite form. You always say Vilken sal (Which hall), never Vilken salen.

Why is the word order visade guiden instead of guiden visade?

Swedish uses the V2 rule, meaning the verb must be the second piece of information in the sentence. The entire question phrase Vilken sal counts as the first position. To keep the verb in the second position, the verb visade must come next, pushing the subject guiden (the guide) to the third position.

Where is the word for 'did' in this Swedish sentence?

Swedish does not use helper verbs like 'do' or 'did' to ask questions. Instead of saying 'did the guide show', you simply use the past tense of the main verb, visade (showed), and rely on the word order to show it is a question.