Breakdown of Hon köpte en dyr hammare själv.
hon
she
en
a, an (common)
köpa
to buy
dyr
expensive
själv
oneself (emphatic)
hammaren
the hammer
Questions & Answers about Hon köpte en dyr hammare själv.
Why do we use själv here, and does it ever change?
Själv means "oneself" (here, "herself") and emphasizes that the subject did the action alone. It behaves a bit like an adjective describing the subject. Because hon (she) is singular, we use själv. If the subject were plural, like de (they) or vi (we), it would change to själva.
Could själv go anywhere else in this sentence?
Yes, it could also go right after the verb: Hon köpte själv en dyr hammare. Both positions are correct. Putting it at the very end of the sentence is a very common and natural way to emphasize that she did it all by herself without help.
Why is the adjective dyr instead of dyrt or dyra?
Adjectives have to match the noun they describe. Because hammare is an en-word (en hammare), the adjective takes its basic form dyr. If she bought an ett-word, it would be dyrt, and if it were plural, it would be dyra.
I see hammare ends in an "e". How do I make it plural?
Nouns that end in -are and describe people or tools (like hammare or lärare for teacher) are special: they stay exactly the same in the indefinite plural. So "one hammer" is en hammare, and "two hammers" is två hammare.
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