Breakdown of Vi byter oljan vart femte år.
vi
we
året
the year
femte
fifth
byta
to change
oljan
the oil
var
every (with ordinal)
Questions & Answers about Vi byter oljan vart femte år.
Why do we use vart here instead of varje or var?
When saying 'every [number] [noun]', Swedish uses var or vart plus the ordinal number (like third, fifth, tenth). We use vart here instead of var because the noun it refers to, år (year), is an ett-word. If it were an en-word like månad (month), you would use var femte månad.
Do I always use the ordinal number (like femte) with var/vart?
Yes! Just like in English where you say 'every fifth year', Swedish uses vart femte år. You cannot use the regular counting number fem (five) here. The pattern for this kind of time expression is always var/vart + ordinal number + indefinite noun.
Why is år in the indefinite form?
The grammatical rule in Swedish is that after var, vart, and varje, the noun must always be in the indefinite form. So it is år, never året.
Why is the word for oil in the definite form (oljan)?
In Swedish, when you are talking about a specific necessary item belonging to something (like the oil in your car), you use the definite form oljan (the oil). English does this too with 'change the oil', but even in contexts where English might just say 'we change oil', Swedish strongly prefers the definite form because the specific oil being changed is implied.
Learn Vi byter oljan vart femte år and more in Swedish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free