Breakdown of Laboratoriet byggdes av företaget.
företaget
the company
av
of, by / from (cause)
bygga
to build
laboratoriet
the laboratory
Questions & Answers about Laboratoriet byggdes av företaget.
I thought av meant 'of'. Why does it mean 'by' in this sentence?
You have likely seen av translated as 'of' or 'off' before. However, in passive sentences where the subject receives the action, av translates to 'by'. It introduces the agent (the person or thing that actually did the action), which in this case is företaget.
Why does the verb byggdes end in an 's'?
The -s at the end of the verb creates the passive form. The regular active past tense is byggde (built). By adding an -s, it becomes byggdes (was built), showing that the laboratory was on the receiving end of the building process.
Why is the word for 'the laboratory' spelled laboratoriet instead of laboratoriumet?
The dictionary form of the word is ett laboratorium. When an ett word ends in -um, Swedish drops the -um before adding the definite ending -et (meaning 'the'). Therefore, laboratori + -et becomes laboratoriet.
Is the base word for företaget an en-word or an ett-word?
It is an ett-word: ett företag (a company). When you want to say 'the company', you add the definite suffix -et to the end, giving you företaget.
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