Breakdown of Min kollega är tysk, men hon är också ekonom.
vara
to be
hon
she
också
also
men
but
min
my (min/mitt/mina)
kollegan
the colleague
ekonomen
the economist
tysken
the German
Questions & Answers about Min kollega är tysk, men hon är också ekonom.
Why doesn't the sentence say en ekonom since the English translation says "an economist"?
In Swedish, you drop the article (en or ett) after verbs like är (is) or blir (becomes) when stating someone's profession, nationality, or political affiliation. Since being an economist is a profession, we just say hon är ekonom without the article.
The sentence says she is tysk (German). Could we also use tyska since we know the colleague is female?
Yes, you can! When stating nationalities, you can use the general form tysk or the specific female noun tyska (a German woman). Because of the zero-article rule for nationalities, hon är tysk and hon är tyska are both completely correct here.
Why is tysk written with a lowercase letter when "German" is capitalized in English?
In Swedish, words for nationalities and languages are never capitalized unless they start a sentence. Only the names of the countries themselves get a capital letter, like Tyskland (Germany).
The word kollega ends in an "a". Does that mean it is plural?
No, kollega is the singular form. It is an en word, which is why the sentence uses the pronoun min instead of mitt. The plural form would be kollegor (or sometimes kolleger).
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