Olyckan hände nyligen.

From Lesson 77:Consequences (så)·Swedish

Breakdown of Olyckan hände nyligen.

hända
to happen
nyligen
recently
olyckan
the accident

Questions & Answers about Olyckan hände nyligen.

Why is the word olyckan used instead of just olycka?
Olyckan is the definite form, meaning the accident. The base noun is en olycka (an accident). Because it is an en-word ending in a vowel, you simply add an -n to the end to make it definite.
How do we know the verb hände is in the past tense?
The verb is att hända (to happen). It belongs to a common group of Swedish verbs that form their past tense by adding -de to the stem, giving us hände (happened).
Does the ending in nyligen work similarly to -ly in English?
Exactly! The Swedish suffix -ligen is often used to turn adjectives into adverbs. Here, it turns the adjective ny (new) into the adverb nyligen (newly or recently). You will also see this in other common words like verkligen (really).
This lesson is about the conjunction (so). How would we add to this sentence to show a consequence?
While this sentence doesn't have a consequence built in, you can easily add one! You could say Olyckan hände nyligen, så vägen är stängd (The accident happened recently, so the road is closed). Remember that joins two main clauses, so the word order in the second part stays standard (subject before verb).

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