Word
De tävlar i spåret idag.
Meaning
They are competing in the track today.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about De tävlar i spåret idag.
Why is there no word for "are" before tävlar?
Swedish doesn't use a separate "to be" verb for ongoing actions the way English does with "are competing". The single present tense verb tävlar means both "compete" and "are competing".
Why does the word for track end in -et here?
The base word is ett spår (a track). To make it definite ("the track"), you add the ending that matches its gender. Since it is an ett word, the ending is -et, making it spåret.
If I wanted to add a comparative adverb like snabbare (faster), where would it go in this sentence?
In a simple main clause like this, the adverb usually comes right after the verb. You would say De tävlar snabbare i spåret idag.
What kind of track does spåret usually refer to?
In a Swedish sports context, ett spår frequently refers to an outdoor trail in nature, like a running trail (löpspår) or a cross-country skiing track (skidspår), rather than a standard athletic stadium track.