Word
Han har kämpat med projektet i en evighet.
Meaning
He has struggled with the project for an eternity.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Han har kämpat med projektet i en evighet.
han
he
en
a, an (common)
ha
to have
i
for (duration)
Questions & Answers about Han har kämpat med projektet i en evighet.
Why do we use i here to mean 'for' instead of på?
When talking about how long an ongoing activity lasts, Swedish uses i. Because the struggling was a continuous action, i is correct. We use på for the time it takes to complete a goal, or in negative sentences like 'I haven't seen him in an eternity'.
What is the base form of kämpat?
The infinitive is att kämpa, which means 'to struggle', 'to fight', or 'to work hard'. Because the sentence is in the present perfect ('has struggled'), we use the helper verb har plus the supine form kämpat.
Is projekt an en-word or an ett-word?
It is an ett-word: ett projekt. To say 'the project', we add the definite ending -et to the end, giving us projektet.
Could I say för en evighet sedan instead?
That would change the meaning! För ... sedan means 'ago', so för en evighet sedan means 'an eternity ago'. Because we want to express 'for an eternity' to show the duration of the struggle, we must use the preposition i.