Breakdown of Bilen som polisen letar efter är stulen.
vara
to be
bilen
the car
polisen
the police officer
som
who / which / that (relative pronoun)
leta efter
to look for (physical items, everyday)
stulen
stolen
Questions & Answers about Bilen som polisen letar efter är stulen.
Why is the word for stolen written as stulen here instead of stulet?
Because it acts as an adjective describing bilen (the car), which is an en-word. When a past participle is used as a descriptive word after är, it has to match the noun's gender and number. Since en bil is a singular en-word, we use stulen. If it were describing an ett-word, it would be stulet, and for plurals, stulna.
Why do we need the word efter after letar?
The verb letar by itself just means searching. To say you are looking for or searching for a specific thing, you must add the preposition efter. Together, the phrase letar efter translates to looking for.
Is it normal to leave the preposition efter at the end of the som clause?
Yes! Just like in everyday English where we say the car the police are looking for, Swedish naturally drops the preposition to the end of a relative clause (the part of the sentence that starts with som).
Why does Swedish use the singular polisen when the English translation says the police are?
In Swedish, polisen is the definite singular form of en polis (a police officer), but it is also the standard way to refer to the entire police force. While English treats the police as a plural group, Swedish treats the institution as a single, singular entity.
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