Breakdown of Polisen håller på att förhöra den misstänkte.
polisen
the police officer
den
the (with en-words)
hålla på att
to be doing (progressive)
förhöra
to interrogate
misstänkt
suspected
Questions & Answers about Polisen håller på att förhöra den misstänkte.
Why does den misstänkte end with an -e instead of an -a?
Misstänkte is a past participle acting as a noun. When referring to a specific male person, Swedish uses the -e ending. In legal and police contexts, den misstänkte is also used as the standard generic term for a suspect. If it were known to be a female suspect, you would say den misstänkta.
Is misstänkte a noun or an adjective here?
It is originally a past participle (a verb acting like an adjective, from misstänka, to suspect). However, in this sentence it acts entirely as a noun meaning 'the suspect'. This is called substantivation: putting den, det, or de in front of an adjective or participle to turn it into a person or thing.
How does håller på att förhöra translate to 'are interrogating'?
Swedish does not have a direct '-ing' tense for ongoing actions. To show that someone is right in the middle of doing something, you use the phrase håller på att plus the infinitive of the verb. Literally, it means 'is holding on to interrogate', but it translates naturally as 'is currently interrogating'.
Why is polisen singular when the English translation says 'the police are'?
In English, 'the police' is treated as a plural group. In Swedish, polisen is a singular definite noun referring to the police force as a single entity. If you wanted to talk about multiple individual officers, you would use the plural form poliserna.
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