Breakdown of Ring polisen innan branden blir stor!
stor
big
ringa
to call
innan
before
polisen
the police officer
Questions & Answers about Ring polisen innan branden blir stor!
How does innan affect the structure of this sentence?
Innan means "before" and is a subordinating conjunction, which means it introduces a dependent clause (innan branden blir stor). The word order inside this clause follows the normal Subject + Verb pattern here. However, remember the "BIFF" rule from earlier lessons: if you were to add a sentence adverb like inte (not) to this clause, it would have to go before the verb!
Why does the sentence start with Ring instead of Du ringer?
This is a direct command, so it uses the imperative form of the verb ringa (to call). The imperative is used when telling someone what to do, and it drops the subject pronoun (du). For many verbs, you find the imperative by removing the -er or -ar ending from the present tense, leaving us with Ring.
Is polisen singular or plural in Swedish?
Polisen is the definite singular form of en polis. It can mean "the police officer" or "the police force" in general. This is a bit tricky for English speakers because we usually treat "the police" as a plural noun ("the police are coming"). In Swedish, it acts as a singular noun.
I learned that eld means "fire". Why does this sentence use branden?