Question 1

How exactly does drygt work in this sentence to mean 'just over'?

Accepted Answer

Drygt is used to express quantity approximations, meaning 'a little more than' or 'just over'. By placing it right before the number tusen (a thousand), it tells us the crowd size is slightly larger than 1,000. If you wanted to say 'just under a thousand', you would swap it out for the word knappt.

Question 2

Why does the sentence use Det är instead of Det finns for 'There are'?

Accepted Answer

Both det är and det finns can mean 'there is' or 'there are'. While det finns is the most common way to state that something generally exists, det är is frequently used in spoken Swedish when describing what is currently present at a specific location like här (here). Both are completely correct in this context.

Question 3

Why is it just tusen instead of ett tusen for 'a thousand'?

Accepted Answer

In Swedish, the numbers for hundred (hundra) and thousand (tusen) do not usually need the number one (ett) in front of them. You generally only use ett tusen if you are doing strict counting or want to heavily emphasize that it is exactly one thousand as opposed to two.

Question 4

Could I use vem instead of som to mean 'who' in this sentence?

Accepted Answer

No, you must use som. In Swedish, vem is strictly a question word used to ask 'who?' (like in 'Vem är det?'). When you need a linking word to connect a noun to a description, like connecting the people to the fact that they love music, you always use the relative pronoun som, which handles 'who', 'which', and 'that'.

Det är drygt tusen människor här som älskar musik.

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