Word
Vi läser sagan om den fattige pojken.
Meaning
We read the fairy tale about the poor boy.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Vi läser sagan om den fattige pojken.
vi
we
pojken
the boy
läsa
to read
den
the (with en-words)
Questions & Answers about Vi läser sagan om den fattige pojken.
Why does the adjective end in "-e" (fattige) instead of "-a" (fattiga)?
Normally, definite adjectives end in -a (like in den fattiga flickan). However, for nouns that refer to male people (like pojken), you can use the special masculine suffix -e instead. Both den fattige pojken and den fattiga pojken are grammatically correct, but the -e ending is a very traditional and common choice for males.
Why do we need the word den here if pojken already means "the boy"?
This is because of a Swedish rule called "double definiteness." When you add an adjective to a definite noun, you must also add a separate definite article before the adjective. For en words, that article is den. So, you are literally saying "the poor the-boy" (den fattige pojken).
Since den already means "the", could I just say den fattige pojke?
No, you cannot drop the ending on the noun! Because of the double definiteness rule, the noun must still take its definite ending (pojken) even when the standalone article (den) is doing the exact same job at the front of the phrase. Leaving the noun in its indefinite form is a very common mistake for English speakers.
What is the base form of the word sagan?