Breakdown of Trängseln är hemsk, men bandet som spelar är nog bra.
vara
to be
spela
to play
bra
good / well
men
but
som
who / which / that (relative pronoun)
bandet
the band
nog
probably
hemsk
terrible
trängseln
the crowding
Questions & Answers about Trängseln är hemsk, men bandet som spelar är nog bra.
Why does nog translate to "probably" here instead of "enough"?
While nog can mean "enough", it is very frequently used to mean "probably", "likely", or "I suppose". Here, the speaker is guessing that the band is good, so nog translates best as "probably".
How does the word trängseln get its definite form?
The base word is en trängsel (crowding or congestion). For en-words ending in -el, you usually just add -n to make it definite, rather than the full -en. This gives us trängseln for "the crowding".
Could I drop the word som and just say ...bandet spelar är nog bra?
No, som is required here. It acts as the subject of the relative clause because the band is the one doing the playing. In Swedish, you can only drop som if it is the object of the clause (like in bandet jag gillar for "the band I like").
Why is it bandet som spelar and not something with är to mean "is playing"?
Swedish does not use a "to be + -ing" structure. The simple present tense spelar translates to both "plays" and "is playing" depending on the context.
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