Word
Jag håller på att stryka tvätten.
Meaning
I am ironing the laundry.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Jag håller på att stryka tvätten.
jag
I
hålla på att
to be doing (progressive)
stryka
to iron
tvätten
the laundry
Questions & Answers about Jag håller på att stryka tvätten.
Why do we use håller på att here instead of just saying Jag stryker tvätten?
While Jag stryker tvätten can mean both 'I iron' and 'I am ironing', using håller på att emphasizes that you are in the middle of doing it right now. It acts like the English '-ing' form to heavily stress an ongoing action.
What verb form is stryka and why is it used here?
It is the infinitive (the basic dictionary form) of the verb 'to iron'. We use the infinitive here because the progressive marker håller på att must always be followed by an infinitive verb, never a present tense verb like stryker.
How is the phrase håller på att stryka pronounced in casual spoken Swedish?
In everyday speech, the word att is almost always shortened and pronounced as 'å'. You will usually hear natives say håller på å stryka.
Why does the word tvätten have an -en at the end?
The base word is en tvätt (a wash or laundry). Adding -en to the end makes it definite, giving us tvätten (the laundry) instead of just 'laundry'.