Breakdown of Läkaren har inte tappat tålamodet på en vecka.
en
a, an (common)
inte
not
ha
to have
veckan
the week
Questions & Answers about Läkaren har inte tappat tålamodet på en vecka.
Why do we use på instead of i for the duration here?
This is the core rule for negative duration! When something has not happened for a certain amount of time, Swedish uses på. If the sentence were positive (like 'He studied for a week'), you would use i. Because of the negative word inte, we must say på en vecka.
The translation says 'his patience', but the Swedish says tålamodet (the patience). Why?
In English, we use possessive words (my, his, her) for personal traits and body parts. Swedish often prefers using the definite form (adding -et or -en) when it is already obvious who it belongs to. So 'his patience' simply becomes tålamodet (the patience).
Literally, what does the verb tappat mean?
The verb tappa (here in its past participle form tappat) means to drop or lose something physically, like dropping a pen or losing your keys. Just like in English, it is used figuratively in the expression tappa tålamodet to mean losing your patience.
What is the rule for placing inte in this sentence?