Breakdown of Vi tränar varannan dag.
vi
we
träna
to exercise
dagen
the day
varannan
every other (en-words); vartannat (ett-words)
Questions & Answers about Vi tränar varannan dag.
Why do we use varannan here instead of vartannat?
Varannan means "every other" or "every second." It has to agree with the gender of the noun it describes. Because dag is an en-word (en dag), we use varannan. If we were talking about an ett-word like år (year), we would use vartannat år (every other year).
Why is dag in the singular indefinite form? Shouldn't it be plural since it happens multiple times?
In Swedish, words following distributive pronouns like varannan (every other) and varje (every) always take the singular indefinite form. It works exactly like English: you say "every other day" rather than "every other days".
How is the word varannan built?
It is a combination of two words you already know: var (every/each) and annan (second/other). So it literally translates to "every second" or "every other".
If varannan means "every other" (every second), how would I say "every third day"?
For numbers higher than two, you use var (or vart for ett-words) plus the ordinal number. So "every third day" is var tredje dag, "every fourth day" is var fjärde dag, and so on.