Questions & Answers about Var var vittnet i somras?
Why does sommar have an -s at the end in i somras?
This is a special pattern for past time expressions. When you combine the preposition i with a season and add an -s to the end, it means "last [season]". So i somras means "last summer", just like i vintras means "last winter".
Why are there two vars right next to each other at the start of the sentence?
They are actually two completely different words that just happen to look exactly the same! The first Var is the question word meaning "Where". The second var is the past tense of the verb att vara (to be), meaning "was". Together they mean "Where was".
Do you pronounce both vars exactly the same way when speaking?
Usually, no! In everyday spoken Swedish, the verb var (was) is almost always shortened and pronounced as just "va". So, a native speaker will typically say "Var va vittnet..." which makes it much easier to tell the two words apart.
Why is "the witness" written as vittnet and not vittnen?
The base noun is ett vittne (a witness). Because it is an ett-word that already ends in a vowel, you just add a -t to make it definite, giving you vittnet (the witness). If you see vittnen ending in -n, that is actually the plural form meaning "witnesses".