Breakdown of Hunden har inte ätit på flera timmar.
hunden
the dog
inte
not
ha
to have
äta
to eat
flera
several
timmen
the hour
på
in/within (a period of time)
Questions & Answers about Hunden har inte ätit på flera timmar.
Why do we use på here instead of i for the duration of time?
We use på because the sentence is negative (inte). In Swedish, when you talk about how long something has not happened, you use på. If the sentence were positive, like if the dog had been eating for several hours, you would use i instead.
Does flera mean "more" or "several"?
Here it means "several". While fler (without the 'a') usually means "more" in the sense of a larger amount, flera is the standard word for "several", especially in phrases like flera timmar (several hours).
Why is the verb ätit and not äter?
This sentence uses the present perfect tense ("has not eaten"), which requires the helper verb har followed by a special verb form called the supine. The supine form of äta (to eat) is ätit.
Why does inte go right in the middle of har and ätit?
In a normal Swedish main clause, words like inte must be placed immediately after the first, conjugated verb. Since har is the first verb, inte steps in before the second verb, ätit.
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