Question 1

What is the role of som here, and can I drop it like we do in English?

Accepted Answer

Som translates to "that" or "which". It introduces the relative clause and acts as the object of what you are using. In English, you can often drop "that" and just say "a piece of jewelry you don't use". In written Swedish, you usually must keep som. In relaxed spoken Swedish, it can sometimes be dropped when it acts as the object, but as a learner, it is always safest to keep it!

Question 2

Why does inte come before the verb använder?

Accepted Answer

In a normal main sentence, inte goes after the verb (for example, Jag använder inte smycken). However, the second part of this sentence is a relative clause (som du inte använder). In Swedish subordinate clauses like this one, "sentence adverbs" like inte (not) or alltid (always) must be placed before the verb. This is a very important rule to remember!

Question 3

How do I make ett smycke plural?

Accepted Answer

Smycke is an ett word that ends in a vowel. To make these kinds of words plural, you add -n, so it becomes smycken (pieces of jewelry). The definite plural (meaning "the pieces of jewelry") is smyckena.

Question 4

Why is it använder instead of the infinitive använda?

Accepted Answer

Even though the English translation is "do not use", Swedish doesn't use a helper verb like "do" to create negative sentences. You just conjugate the main verb directly in the present tense: använder. You would only use the infinitive använda ("to use") if there was a helper verb in front of it, like in Jag vill inte använda det (I do not want to use it).

Har du ett smycke som du inte använder?

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