Breakdown of Pojken växer och är nu längre än sin bror.
vara
to be
och
and
nu
now
pojken
the boy
brodern
the brother
sin
his/her/its/their own (en-word)
lång
long / tall
än
than
växa
to grow
Questions & Answers about Pojken växer och är nu längre än sin bror.
Why does the word for "taller" (längre) have an ä when the base word is lång?
This is a great example of a vowel mutation! Some common Swedish adjectives change their main vowel when they turn into comparative (more) and superlative (most) forms. For lång, the å changes to an ä. Notice also that it takes the shorter ending -re instead of the regular -are.
Wait, doesn't lång mean "long"? How does it mean "taller" here?
In Swedish, lång means both "long" (for objects) and "tall" (for people). So when comparing people, längre translates to "taller", but if you were talking about ropes or distances, it would mean "longer".
Why does the sentence use sin bror instead of hans bror for "his brother"?
Because sin is a reflexive possessive pronoun. It always refers back to the subject of the clause, which is Pojken (the boy). This shows he is taller than his own brother. If we used hans bror, it would mean the boy is taller than some other guy's brother!
The English translation says "is growing". Why isn't there a Swedish word for "is" before växer?
Swedish does not have a continuous tense (an "-ing" form) like English does. The simple present tense växer covers both "grows" and "is growing". Saying är växer (is grows) is a common beginner mistake, but it is grammatically incorrect in Swedish.
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