Breakdown of Vi läser alltid annonsen innan intervjun.
vi
we
alltid
always
läsa
to read
innan
before
annonsen
the advertisement
intervjun
the interview
Questions & Answers about Vi läser alltid annonsen innan intervjun.
Why does alltid come after läser instead of before it?
In Swedish main clauses, the verb must be the second piece of information (the V2 rule). Because the subject Vi is in the first position, the verb läser must come second. Sentence adverbs like alltid (always) are then placed right after the verb.
Why is the word for "the interview" spelled intervjun instead of intervjuen?
The base word is en intervju (an interview). For "en" words that already end in a vowel, you only add -n to make it definite (the interview), rather than adding the full -en ending.
Could I use före instead of innan in this sentence?
Yes, absolutely! Both före and innan mean "before". Traditionally, före is used before nouns (like före intervjun) and innan is used before full phrases with a subject and verb. However, in modern Swedish, it is completely normal to use innan before a noun too, just as we see here.
Does läser mean "read" or "are reading" here?
Swedish does not have a separate "-ing" form for verbs. The present tense läser can mean either "read" or "are reading". In this sentence, the word alltid (always) shows it is a recurring habit, so it translates to "read".
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