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De äldre är rädda på grund av inbrottet.

De äldre är rädda på grund av inbrottet.
The elderly are afraid because of the burglary.
From Lesson 161:Adjectives used as nouns (de unga, den misstänkte)·Swedish

Questions & Answers about De äldre är rädda på grund av inbrottet.

Since äldre is an adjective meaning 'older', how does de äldre work as a noun here?
You have just spotted substantivation in action! Äldre is the comparative form of gammal (old). In Swedish, you can often take an adjective, put the plural article de (the) in front of it, and treat the whole phrase as a noun to describe a group of people. So de äldre simply becomes 'the elderly'.
Why is the adjective rädda in the plural form here?
Even though de äldre acts as a noun phrase in this sentence, it still refers to multiple people. Because Swedish requires adjectives to agree with the subject they describe, the word rädd (afraid) must take its plural ending -a to become rädda.
Could I use eftersom or därför att instead of på grund av?
Not in this sentence. På grund av is a fixed prepositional phrase meaning 'because of' or 'due to', and it must be placed directly before a noun (like inbrottet). Words like eftersom and därför att mean 'because', but they must be followed by a full clause containing a subject and a verb, such as eftersom det var ett inbrott.
Is the word inbrott (burglary) related to brott (crime)?
Yes! Ett brott means a crime or an offense, which originally comes from the verb att bryta (to break). By adding the prefix in-, you get ett inbrott (a break-in or burglary). Because it is an ett-word, it takes the -et suffix in this sentence to become inbrottet (the burglary).

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