Questions & Answers about Barnet vaknade och grät.
Why doesn't grät end in -de or -te like most past tense verbs?
It comes from the verb gråta (to cry), which is a strong verb. Instead of taking a regular past tense ending, strong verbs change their inner vowel. Here, the å changes to ä, turning gråta into grät.
Is barnet singular or plural?
It is singular, meaning "the child". Because barn is an ett word (ett barn), it takes the -et ending in the definite singular form. If it were plural ("the children"), it would be barnen.
Is vaknade a regular verb?
Yes! It comes from vakna (to wake up), which is a Group 1 verb. Group 1 is the most common verb group in Swedish, and these verbs always form the past tense by simply adding -de to the infinitive, making it vaknade.
Could I say Barnet vaknade och barnet grät?
You could, but it sounds unnatural. Just like in English, when two verbs connected by och (and) share the same subject (barnet), you usually drop the subject the second time.
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