Breakdown of För ett sekel sedan levde min mormor i skogen.
ett
a, an (neuter)
i
in
sedan
then
skogen
the forest
min
my (min/mitt/mina)
för ... sedan
ago (in 'för ... sedan')
seklet
the century
leva
to live (be alive)
mormorn
the maternal grandmother
Questions & Answers about För ett sekel sedan levde min mormor i skogen.
How does the phrase för ett sekel sedan mean "a century ago"?
In Swedish, to say "ago", you frame the amount of time with för at the beginning and sedan at the end. Here, ett sekel means "a century", so the combination för ett sekel sedan is the standard way to express that an event happened a century ago.
Why is the verb levde placed before the subject min mormor?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule in action. Because the sentence starts with the time expression För ett sekel sedan, the verb (levde) must be the second block of information. The subject (min mormor) has to wait until after the verb.
Could I use bodde instead of levde to say "lived" here?
Yes, but the feeling changes slightly. Bo (past tense bodde) means to reside somewhere. Leva (past tense levde) means to be alive or to live a certain lifestyle. Saying she levde i skogen gives a rugged feeling of her surviving or living her whole life out in nature, rather than just having a house there.
Does mormor mean any grandmother?
No, Swedish is very specific about grandparents. Mormor is a combination of mor (mother) and mor (mother), so it strictly means your maternal grandmother. Your paternal grandmother would be your farmor.
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