Breakdown of Magikern behöver kortleken, men kaninen släpper den inte.
den
it (common)
inte
not
behöva
to need
men
but
Questions & Answers about Magikern behöver kortleken, men kaninen släpper den inte.
Why is it släpper den inte instead of släpper inte den?
This is the "object pronoun shift" in action! In a Swedish main clause, short, unstressed object pronouns like den (it) step in front of inte (not). If you used the full noun instead of a pronoun, inte would come first: kaninen släpper inte kortleken.
Why does magikern end in -n but kortleken and kaninen end in -en?
They are all "en-words" in their definite form (meaning "the..."). For words ending in a consonant, you usually add -en (like en kanin -> kaninen). For words that end in an unstressed -er, like en magiker, you usually just add -n so it flows better (magikern).
How is the word kortleken built?
It is a compound word made from kort (card) and leken (the game/play). In Swedish, en kortlek is the standard word for a deck of cards.
In English we say "let go OF it". Why isn't there a word for "of" after släpper?