Breakdown of Eftersom hon sällan äter gluten, bakar vi en annan kaka.
hon
she
vi
we
en
a, an (common)
baka
to bake
kakan
the cake
sällan
rarely
äta
to eat
annan
other / another (en-word)
eftersom
since, because
gluten
gluten
Questions & Answers about Eftersom hon sällan äter gluten, bakar vi en annan kaka.
Why is sällan placed before the verb äter?
This is because of the BIFF rule! Eftersom hon sällan äter gluten is a subordinate clause (a supporting clause that cannot stand alone as a full sentence). The BIFF rule tells us that in these clauses, sentence adverbs like sällan (seldom), inte (not), or alltid (always) must come before the conjugated verb. If it were a main clause, it would be hon äter sällan, but here the adverb jumps in front of äter.
Why does the second part say bakar vi instead of vi bakar?
This is the V2 (verb-second) rule in action. The entire first part of the sentence (Eftersom hon sällan äter gluten) counts as the first block of information. To keep the main verb in the second position of the sentence, the verb bakar must come right after the comma, pushing the subject vi into the third position.
How does the word annan work here?
Annan means 'other' or 'another'. Like an adjective, it has to agree with the noun it belongs to. Since kaka is an en-word (en kaka), we use en annan kaka. If we were baking an ett-word, like bröd (bread), it would change to ett annat bröd.
Could we start this sentence with därför att instead of eftersom?
Usually no. While both eftersom and därför att translate to 'because' or 'since', Swedish has a strong rule of thumb: you should not start a sentence with därför att. Since this sentence leads with the 'because' clause, eftersom is the correct choice.
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